Strike Witches: Witches of Liberion
by An0n Author
Summary: Ember was just a normal girl attending high school in Liberion. Though all that had changed with the death of her father, and both her sister are thrusted out into conflict as Witches. Joining the 501st through some shaky times, their adventure begins.
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is going to be my first Strike Witches Fanfic... Well this will be much different from the other FF's I write but... It was quite fun researching locations to use in this fanfic since it's based on our world :3**

**Blaze: ...**

**What...**

**Blaze: YOU MADE ME A GIRL!?**

**Get over it... I didn't want you to be a male witch, or some of you out there a wizard, so I made you a girl... No biggy. Anyways! I'd like to thank both Atikabubu and Doran Maya for inspiring me to write this story. If you haven't read their stories yet, I highly recommend both of them with Atika's The Chosen One series and Doran Maya's Legendary Witches series. Now onto saying that I don't own the Strike Witch's series except for my original content and OC's. The rights to Strike Witches belong to their owners respectively... NOW ONTO THE STORY!**

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_**Glowing Ember**_

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_**Ember's POV:**_

To be honest, I don't know why I'm even alive. With what happened, I should be dead as dead can be. Incinerated in a Striker fire after crash landing, crushed under some rubble, blown to bits by an explosion, or vaporized by a Neuroi beam but here I am, laying in a soft bed of my new base, my sister in arms reach. To understand everything, lets start off from the beginning. My name is Ember Vermillion, and my life was for ever changed on December 7th, 1941.

It all started off with myself being in High School like a good teen, not minding about the war as much for there's nothing I could really do to help with the war. I was no witch, I had no magical powers, so I just stood back and let the people who could fight, fight the Neuroi in some distant land I had no clue about. My father was a mechanic in the USAAF and was stationed out all the way in Hawaii so we didn't really get to see him often. I've always looked up to my father and he had taught me how to be a mechanic when he was home for a visit. He showed me how to dismantle an engine and put it back together, fix nearly anything, and told me the basics of maintaining the Witch's best friend, her Striker Unit. I guess you could say I wasn't your average Liberion girl for I never really got into any of that stuff girls often seen doing. Back to the story, school had only just ended for me and I was walking back home with my sister, Blazette. Opening the door to the front of our house, we announced we were home before our mother greeted us.

"We're home!" I shouted, taking my shoes off at the door.

"Welcome home dears." Her voice carried from the kitchen to the front door with ease, even with the radio on in the background. "How was your day at school?"

"Same old, same old. Teach us this, teach us that. Then there's the reminder about the war over seas." I grumbled, sitting down heavily.

"How was your day Blazette?"

"Come on Mom, you know I like to be called Blaze." She puffed her cheeks in annoyance before going on to answer her question. "The project I finished went well when I presented it." She cheered causing a small smirk to crack on my face. Looking past her out the window my thoughts started to drift.

'_I wonder what it's like to fly up there. Fly up there as a Witch.'_ I thought, looking as the bird flew freely. My thoughts drifted to our father, tinkering away and fixing up Striker unites down at Hawaii in Pearl harbor. How much fun he might be having at the moment messing around with the inner workings of a Striker unit. I was having a perfectly normal life with a happy family and I never wanted that to end. I started to day dream on working on a Striker engine with my father when what ever song was playing on the radio cut out and a voice of a reported started to speak.

"We are sorry for this interruptions but we have some urgent news." Lifting my head from where I propped it on my hand I looked around myself. My mother had stopped cleaning the dishes and turned off the faucet and was looking, with my sister, at the radio. What really had caught my attention was the urgency in the reporters voice. A voice of... Of fear. "W-We have just received information t-that... That the Neuroi have been spotted on Liberion soil..."

'_Liberion soil? Could they have come to the main land all ready? But, there isn't a large hive around us unless...'_ My mouth felt dry and parched as I listened, swallowing whatever spit was in my mouth.

"I am sad to say this but... Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Neuroi." My heart sank instantly. My mother gasped, placing her hands over her mouth while my sister tugged on my sleeve nervously.

"W-What does he mean that P-Pearl Harbor was attacked Ember?"

"I-I don't know... But I'm pretty sure that daddy is all right and will be coming back to us soon." I said, hugging her.

"He would have called us by now if he's been attacked... What if he's-"

"Maybe the phone lines were damaged mom." I persuaded, trying to keep us from jumping to conclusions. "It's to be expected if the Neuroi attacked. The phone lines might have been cut or something. He's alive... He has to be alive." My voice started to quiver slightly as my mind started to think the worse before I pulled myself together, helping my mother with dinner. I tried to sleep that night but the news kept me awake.

'_The Neuroi attacked us... We're... We're going to war... The United States of Liberion has just entered the war for humanity. The war against the Neuroi...' _Sooner or later, I must have finally fallen asleep because the next thing I see is the morning daylight enter through my window. In almost robotic motions, I got up and got ready for school the same day. Helping my sister get to her middle school, I entered my own high school; the halls filled with chatter about the attack on Pearl Harbor. My friend talked to me slightly trying to comfort me for they knew that my father was stationed at Pearl Harbor. They were sweet talking me, telling me that he's all right and he will be home before I knew it... Two days later we've received a letter in the mail stating that my father, Carlos T. Vermillion was Killed in Action on December 7th, 1941. My mother read the note to us but she didn't cry out loud. My sister had all ready buried her face into my chest, bawling her eyes out but I looked worriedly at my mom. Her eyes seemed to empty of all life as she let the letter slip out from her hands and leaned herself up against the counter top. The slip of paper glided down to her feet but she just stood still, tears falling from her eyes, but no noise was coming out of her mouth.

"Mom, please, snap out of it." I said calmly. No response. "Mom, please snap out of it!" I said louder, getting out of my chair, shacking her slightly. No dice. "Please Mom, snap out of it!" I cried out to her but she only slumped her head down, looking at the floor with her dull, lifeless eyes. My mother had become a lifeless shell and there's nothing I can do now to help her. The shock was to much for her systems to handle and she just crashed. "Come on Mom... Let me take you to your room..." I said softly. She nodded ever so slightly in return as I took her hand to lead her to her room.

'_Cold...'_ I thought, as I touched what used to be the warm and loving hands that belonged to my mother. Blaze had finally calmed down from bawling to sniffs. Her eyes, puffy and blood shot from all the crying. With my mother not able to complete her task anymore, I had to take over this family or we won't survive. I dropped out of high school and obtained myself a job at a mechanics shop. If one thing my father left behind before his passing was his gift of making me a natural mechanic. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be able to put food on the table as easily nor would Blaze still be going to school. I had to take over nearly everything in the house from cleaning the dishes, making the meals, doing the laundry, and getting Blaze to school on time before making it to work. It was exhausting but if it meant that we will survive, I will keep on going. Though I guess in all the hard times I've had back then, there were also the good ones. One being how I learned that I had the magical powers of a witch.

A year had passed since the news of my father's death reached us and my powers manifested when I was walking Blaze home from school with some groceries I had bought. We were walking, making haste to get home to my mother when three grown men stepped in front of us, stopping our progression.

"Will you please move?" I asked kindly.

"What's with the rush young lady?" Said one of them, as he looked me over.

"We just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes." Another one said, giving me the same treatment. I met him back with a glare. "Ouch! A fine, yet feisty, one we've got here boss."

"Yes... A very fine in indeed." The three men started to circle around us, pushing us deeper into the alley way. Sticking my arm off to the side, I pushed Blaze further behind me, glaring at the thugs in front of me. "Listen sweetie, darling, don't make this difficult or..." The two thugs on his left and right both pulled out knives while the one in the center pulled out a Colt revolver. "We might hurt you."

"Like I'd do anything I'd tell you!" I growled at them. I wasn't going to let them have me nor Blaze, so I stood my ground.

"Boss, I don't think she's going to give herself to us."

"Oh, what a shame... I was hoping that you would have just come quietly... I guess you give us no other option." He aimed his gun at me and I tried to get as much of my sister behind me as I could. "I bet a bullet to your leg will make you change your mind." With a click, he pulled back the hammer before pulling the trigger. The crack of a gun echoed through the street and alley way we were in and I looked away, eyes clutched waiting for the piercing pain. But it never came. Opening my eyes, I looked astonished as a bright blue shield was in front of me. A Witches shield.

"Y-You're a Witch!?" The leader asked frightened, taking a step back. What fear I had stored up inside of me now burned away leaving only hate for these three. Jumping forwards the three, I noticed that my agility had increased. The leader fumbled with his gun slightly, trying to aim at me before I delivered a high kick upwards, kicking the pistol from his grip and into the air. It landed with a clunk behind me before I pivoted on my left heel, swinging my right elevated leg 360 degrees around me, slamming my heel into the side of the leaders head knocking him unconscious. I also noted my reaction time had improved when I side stepped one of the thugs that was trying to stab me. Grabbing his arm, I pushed inward at the elbow joint before it bent inwards with a snap. Letting out a blood curtailing scream and falling to his, I drove my knee up kneeing him in the face knocking him out as well with a bloodied nose. The last thug tried to slash at me from behind but I grabbed his arm before he made contact and threw him into the brick wall hard enough that some of the loose mortar fell lose to the ground. Looking in a puddle that was in this ally way, I had noticed on my head were two brownish ears poking out along with what looked like that tail of a Golden eagle poking out of my bottom. Willing to turn what ever I had on, my ears and tail retracted into my body before I turned to a petrified Blaze. Taking her hand, we quickly left the alley way and I went to the police station to report what had happened. After they sent a squad car to pick up the three thugs, I made my way quickly back to the house.

"Hey Ember..." Blaze's voice was nearly a whisper. "Thank you for that earlier..."

"Hey, don't sweat it." I said with a slight smile, ruffling her hair before I put the food away. "Go on now. Start your homework and I'll be getting dinner ready."

"Okay!" With a smile, she hefted her bag to the dinner table, taking out some text books and a piece of paper to write her answers down. Meanwhile, I headed to my mothers room for a little talk. With a slight knock on her door, I eased it open to see that she hadn't left from where I last saw her. She was sitting in a green chair in the far side of the room, a distant lifeless look in her eyes. She's been gradually getting better over the year since the news hit us. She's been able to help around the house in small ways. She could cook a meal here and there but with this discovery of my Witch powers means that it won't be enough. Taking a chair, I placed it right across from her and looked at her, hands clasped together.

"Mom... We need to talk." Her head shifted ever so slightly as she looked up at me eye to eye. "I need... I need you to make a promise." I waited a second expecting a reply, getting none before continuing. "I need you step up and take care of Blazette. I know that I had to do everything and you're not ready yet but... Something... Something came up..." I looked down before back up at her face seeing a message as if she's trying to ask why. Doing what I thought was right, I activated my powers, causing small blue glow to outline my body and my eagle ears pop out of my head. Some more life seemed to return to her eyes as she processed what she just had witnessed and just enough for her to sit up straighter.

"I just only learned about this now and we both know what this means..." She nodded her head, her jaw moving ever so slightly as she tried to form some words. "I know I'm asking you a ton to do this but... Please. I need to fight for I am one of few that can fight the Neuroi on their own terms. I will make sure Dad's death wasn't in vain." My face was full of confidence as I tightened my grip around my hands when my mom placed her hands on my shoulder. I looked up at her surprised and I saw something I thought I would never see again. She was smiling. Getting up slowly, she half shuffled half walked into the kitchen and started to cook dinner. I could hear how shocked Blaze was when she saw my mother walk in and started to cook while I sat in my chair with filled with relief.

'_If she's able to keep this up, then I won't really need to worry as much as I need about Blazette while I'm gone.'_ The very next day, I talked to one of my friends asking if she could walk my sister both to and from school after I showed her my magical ability. She agreed and I thanked her. Blaze's school bell just rung signaling that school had ended while I stood outside the gate waiting for her. Escorting her back to our house, she sat down immediately and started on her homework.

'_Now's the time to talk to her. Now or never.'_ Taking the seat across her her, I looked at her as she worked diligently.

"Hey, big sis, when you're up in the sky, kill some Neuroi for me all right?" She didn't even bat an eye towards me. "What? Of course I know you were going to talk to me about you becoming a Witch and going off to who knows where to fight the Neuroi."

"Well if you know what I was going to say... Then there's not much for me to say other than you should not slack off in school just because I'm not around."

"Yeah yeah..."

"Audrey will be coming by each school day to bring you to and from school."

"Will you send letter home?"

"Whenever I can." With a smile I placed my hand on her head, ruffling her short red hair up a bit. The very next day after seeing my sister off, I went down to a recruiter and enlisted into the USAAC. Basic training in surviving on the ground if we were to be shot down, weapons training, and Striker training. That's basically all we did until I completed training. I flew a range of Strikers from P-40 Kittyhawks, P-47 "Jugs" Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightnings and F4U Corsair. The Kittyhawks... Good for beginners but lacks in everything for full combat compared to the others. The Jugs I liked the stability they have and were the primary Striker unit we were trained in but they felt a bit slow for my taste. The Corsairs had a nifty wing design that helped with lift slightly but again, felt a bit slow. Then there's the lighting. Love at first sight. The perfectly tuned up Allison engines just purred and the flight characteristics are to my liking. Sadly though, the group I was in were specifically training in the Jug. Soon after we completed training, we were handed over to the 370th Fighter Group, lead by Colonel Helma F. Nichols. Though to some of my fellow Witches shock, and my joy, Helma had the whole Fighter Group fitted with P-38's. I basically flipped out of joy when I heard this and ever since then, we've been flying Lightnings. I kept on flying and fighting since the group was shipped off to Britannia RAF Andover base. Over that time, I've been writing letters back to my family, happily hearing that my mother has been helping my sister out as well in my absence. Her grades had been higher than usual and that brought a smile to my face. Even if I didn't send a letter home when ever I could, they were still informed that, "The Fire Maiden of Liberion has reached 50 kills in 6 months," in the news paper.

"Fire Maiden of Liberion" A nickname that a reported gave me when he came out to the 370th base to report on my achievement. To be honest, about 20 of those kills were drones belonging to a large mothership like Neuroi but hey, a kill's a kill. And to make things clear, the "Fire" part in "Fire Maiden" is only for play on words because of my name. I don't have any fire abilities... Though how sweet it would be if I did heehee. Through those achievements also came a promotion, which I happily excepted the higher pay grade to send back to my family back in the states. I grew quite close with my squadron mates since it was only the 7 of us Vs. the Neuroi. I especially grew close to our commander, Colonel Helma, and she knew everything about me from my sister, my friends, and my father.

Sitting in her office, I was reading a letter that just came in for me and what was inside of it took me back.

"My god..."

"What's up Ember?"

"My sister... She's a Witch now." A few seconds of silence as Helma gazed at me before what I said finally hit her.

"Blaze is a Witch now!?" She yelled, nearly jumping out of her seat.

"Jeez, keep your voice down all right? Yes, she says that her own powers manifested when she was sitting in class thinking about me." A light chuckle escaped my mouth, thinking about how her powers manifested. As the weeks flew by, more and more letters came in from her, telling me about her time in flight school. Telling me that it was hard, how close she was getting. Good things, bad things. She even befriended a red headed Witch named Charlotte. After completing her basic flight training, Blaze told me that she was being sent off to the 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group down in Orlando Florida. She would be staying there for a while longer, training in using her P-61 Black Widow Striker and the use of her magical antennae she has for night patrols. Weeks later, I got a final message saying that her training was nearly complete and I let out a sigh.

"What up?" Helma popped her head into my room as let my hand slide down the side of my bed, letter entwined in my fingers.

"It's been so long since I saw my sister... She's grown up quickly and I wasn't there to see it. She became a witch, made friend, and now she's about to complete her night fighting training."

"Come on Emb's. Don't think like that! Who knows, maybe she might make it into a very friendly bunch of people. Maybe she'll be in a squadron close to us." She left with a peculiar smile that confused me for quite some time when one day, when I was coming back from a patrol, I noticed something funny. On the rout back towards the base, I could make out what looked like a C-47 Skytrain flying in the opposite direction. That looked out of place to me but I brushed it off to the side as landed. Taxiing my striker into it's dock, I noticed that there was another launcher in the hanger. One housing a P-61 Black Widow Striker. Again brushing it off trying to keep my hopes down, I walked down to Helma's office to report that I didn't find anything on my patrol. With two knocks on the door, I heard a muffled, "Come in," from the other side, prompting me to enter.

"Colonel. I've just come by to report that-" I stopped mid sentence as I saw another red haired girl standing in the office as well. She turned around and looked at me, blinking twice before a stupid grin started to spread across her face and she then lunged at me.

"Ember!" She tackled me to the ground with a glomp.

"B-Blaze!? How- I mean- What are you doing here?" I stuttered out as she rubbed her cheek against mine with that grin of hers when Helma spoke up.

"She's our new Night Patrol Witch for the 370th."

"But... How?"

"I pulled some strings and asked for some favors... Also, with reports from other Fighter Groups saying that there's been a greater number of Neuroi going out at night. Other than that, she will make an excellent edition to the team, bringing us up to a count of 8 units!" I smiled, happy knowing that I was with my sister yet again and for over a month, things been going quite nicely. Blaze even scored three kills in that time. Everything seemed to go so perfectly again and my life had finally righted itself... Then it was flipped upside down and everything just went FUBAR. It was just the beginning of June when it happened.

We were celebrating my 100th kill that night. Blaze had all ready gone out on her night patrol. Everyone was in a good mood and it was all ready getting late into the night when Helma gave me the order to get Blaze on the radio to tell her to come back and enjoy the evening. Going up the the radio and radar room, I contacted my sister.

"Hey Blaze, how's the patrol going on?"

"Everything's clear for the moment." She said through the transponder. "Though it's a bit cloudy out tonight. How's the party going on?"

"Fine... But it's lonely without you..."

"You know I have to be on these patrols."

"That's exactly why I'm here. Helma gave me orders to tell you you're patrol is completed tonight."

"Good, cause I was about to pass over the base again." Looking at the radar unit we have in the radio room, I could make out a blip on the screen. It got closer and closer to the center when another blip on the screen showed up. In the exact moment, I started to sense the presence of Neuroi. I learned about this ability when I was out on my first mission, the same mission that I got my first kill. As more and more blips appeared on the radar, I could hear the shaky voice of sister through the radio. "E-Ember! T-The Neuroi! They're-" She was cutoff as a Neuroi screamed their ear cringing scream and a red laser beam show out of the sky. "AAH!" Was the last thing I heard before the transmission was cut.

"Blaze!" Slamming my fist down on a red button, the air raid siren started to blare. Search lights started to power on and tracer fire from AA guns started to riddle the sky shooting at any Neuroi that was sighted by a search light. Looking out of the window, I could see two of my fellow squad mates all ready take to the sky to take on the Neuroi. I ran down the hall, stumbling slightly as a red beam carved itself into the earth, causing an explosion to rock the base. I ran into Helma on the way there and we both ran out to the hanger to get into our Strikers to help fend off the Neuroi attack when a beam shot out, destroying the entrance to the hanger successfully locking down our equipment under a few tons of rubble.

"God fucking damn it!" Helma screamed as she erected a shield blocking a laser beam. "Without our Strikers, we can't do anything!" Seeing a Willy's Jeep I jumped on it's back and pulled the charging handle of the M2 Heavy Machine gun before firing away at the Neuroi over. I shot at anything and everything in the sky for these monster were every where and I got one of them before I had to dismount the jeep as a laser beam carved through the metal. Getting up from the ground, I spotted my sister. She was running over to us with only a few scratches, but no serious injuries. I took her up into my arms when she got close enough before erecting yet another shield to block another laser beam.

"Blaze! Thank god you're alive!"

"E-Ember! T-The Neuroi!... There's so many of them! We can't take them all on!" As if on cue, there was a flash in the sky before a Witch went down, trailing fire. "N-No! Angelina!"

"Come on you two! Follow me!" Helma grabbed my arm, towing me behind her as we ran into the radio room when another explosions shook the building, dust sinking out from the cracks in the ceiling. The lights flickered on and off before everything started to power down. First the lights went, then the computers and then the search lights. Everything was going to hell. Helma cursed under her breath as she started to open a compartment below the radio. I was standing in the door way to the radio room, dread as I watched the whole base on fire. With a puff and a stutter, Helma had got what must have been a small emergency generator placed under the radio started before flipping some switches and picking up the receiver.

"If anyone is listening this is an emergency! This is Group Commander Colonel Helma Nichols of the 370th Fighter Group! To anyone out there please send help! Our base is under heavy Neuroi attack and-" She stopped talking as her hand trembled as a Neuroi flew level to the window of the radio room. "Oh no..." The Neuroi let an ear piercing scream as it formed a ball of red energy and released it into the room. I pulled up a shield and even with that, the force of the explosion still sent me flying backwards. Both Blaze and myself smashed into the wall 20 feet behind us knocking the breath out of myself and Blaze out. Explosions, yells of terror and pain filled my ears when another sound above me caught my attention. I knew the building was started to fall apart and the roof ceiling was collapsing above us. Using my own body as a shield, along with my magical shields, to shield my sister when the first pieces of the ceiling fell. My body was close to buckling under the pressure of the debris when one large piece of concrete fell on top of the shield. The shield broke and the last thing I remember was warmth of my sisters breath on my arm and the darkness surrounding us.

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_**Minna's POV Minutes before the Distress call:**_

It was late in the night and I was still working on paper work. I sometimes wonder why there's so much of this work in the first place but I guess with everything that goes on in a single squadron amounts to all of this work. Leaning back in my chair, I reach my arms upwards, stretching out my tiered arms out before looking down at the last sheet of paper when a noise caught my attention. I looked towards my radio that I always have on just in case someone broad casts a distress call. Getting up from my chair, I turned up the volume slightly to see if it was anything.

"_-of the 370th Fighter Group!"_

'_That's Helma's group!'_

"_To anyone out there please send help! Our base is under heavy Neuroi attack and-"_ Her sentence was cut short as the unmistakable scream of a Neuroi broadcasted through the microphone and my heart sank. _"Oh no..."_ Was the last words I heard before an explosion filled the receiver and then static. Rushing over to my desk, I pressed the button activating the air raid siren for a few seconds before turning on the PA system announcing for all Witches to gather in the hanger. Pushing the intercom in my ear as well, I radioed Sanya.

"I'm returning to base Commander. I heard it the distress call as well.

"Good. Meet us in the hanger to receive orders." Rushing down to the hanger, the majority of the witches had all ready gathered and Sanya just taxied into the hanger. "We've got a distress call from the 370th Liberion Fighter Group. Neuroi have attacked their base. I want Mio, Trude, and Sanya to go with me to support their defense. I want the rest of you alert and on standby if any Neuroi comes in our dirrection."

"Commander, if I may. I've got a friend in the 370th as well. I want to go with you too." Shirley spoke up.

"You may join us then."

"You've got your orders!" Mio shouted to the rest. "Move out!" Waving her hand outwards, everyone dispersed into multiple directions. Everyone I assigned to go on support jumped into their own Strikers, weapons in hand. Jumping into my own, my animal features popped out of my head when my MG34 slid out of the launcher unit. With a hand motion, the rumbles of 5 Striker starting up reverberated in the hanger before the deafening roar of them taking off filled it up. Taking to the sky, we angled ourselves towards the 370th base.

"Hey Minna!" Trude yelled at me. "What types of resistance are we looking at?"

"Unknown so be prepared for anything." As we were drawing closer to the base, Mio had flipped her eye patch up and started to survey the area but only shook her head.

"I don't see any Neuroi in the area Minna... And the base... My god, it's in awful condition." Looking off in the distance, I can see that the orange glow of what looks like a fire. When we drew closer, we could finally make out the full damage of the area. "Oh my god..." Gun installations were burning, buildings were destroyed, and death was everywhere. Taking a gulp as we circled above I started to issue orders.

"I want both Sanya and Mio to circle above while Trude, Shirley and I search for survivors..."

"Roger..." The three of us descended down into what seemed to be a living hell.

"How many Neuroi swarm this place?" I heard Trude say silently as she looked around, guns at the ready.

"A Striker unit." Shirley pointed out. "A P-61 Black Widow... Please be all right" Her animal ears drooped slightly and her last sentence was nearly inaudible. We hovered around when I used my power to try and locate any survivors.

"_...-eas-..." _I looked up shocked and looked back at Trude and Shirley as the searched around. They too looked a bit confused so they might have heard the voice as well. _"Pl-ase.. -elp." _There was that voice again. I focused on the main building when I heard it clearly. _"Please help..."_

"Minna! I'm picking up a very faint magical aura from inside the building!" Mio pointed out and I nodded.

"I can sense people in the rubble as well. Trude! We got a live one in there!" Cracking her knuckles, she quickly activated her magical powers and started to throw away large chunks of concrete and wood before reaching the bodies of two red headed girls; the older one of the two on top of the smaller one. The smaller one had medical antennae coming out of her head and was conscious for a second before she closed her eyes and her animal features retracted. Jumping out of my Striker, letting them drop on the spot, I rushed over to the two dragging them out with Trude's help before checking for any major injuries, finding none.

"Blaze!" I looked up in surprise when Shirley jumped out of her Striker, rushing to my side. "Is she all right?"

"She's fine Shirley. Is this your friend you were talking about?" She nodded her head. "Now get back into your Striker." Nodding, she got back into it before I handed the girl named Blaze to her. Trude took the other girl while I got back into my Strike when Shirley spoke up again.

"Minna, can you grab the P-61? It's still in pretty good condition." Nodding, I slung my MG42 over my shoulder before picking up the Striker and flying up to altitude again.

"Any signs of the rest of the squadron Mio?" She only shook her head.

"During the patrol around the area I found five of the eight fighters in the 370th Fighter Group. All dead..." I bit the bottom of my lip when Mio looked past me at the two red headed girls. "Those are the only survivors of the 370th... What should we do with them?"

"I will decide that later. For now, all Witches, return to base." We flew back in silence before landing back at base. Quickly docking, both Shirley and Trude rushed off to the medical room with the two survivors. I placed the Striker unit I held on a work bench before docking my own. Getting a report from Eila, telling me that there were no Neuroi activity in the area I dismissing everyone and we all returned back to our beds.

'_Tomorrow I'll write a full report and contact the Liberion command to see what I should do with these two girls.'_ I thought as I got into my night gown and slid under the covers.

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

_I was standing in my family house back in California, confused why I was here. I was in the kitchen with my mother, sister, and father._

'_Father?'_ I thought before speaking up.

"_What am I doing here? Where are the Neuroi?"_

"_You're with your family silly." My mother teased. "There's no Neuroi where we're living Ember."_

"_What about dad!? He's supposed to be dead!"_

"_That stings Ember. Why should I be dead?" Just then the sky started to go darker before an unmistakable scream of a Neuroi reverberated through the room and both my parents and sister didn't even bat an eye. Red laser beams were cutting up everything around us and they kept on acting as if there's nothing happening._

"_Mom! Dad! The Neuroi! They're here!"_

"_Will you stop spouting off this nonsense Ember? This isn't like you at all."_ _My mother dismissed my reaction when a Neuroi appeared in front of the window, charging up a laser beam. I willed up my animal features and erect a shield but they never appeared. I tried and tried again getting nothing when it released. The red beam enveloped everything before I to was washed away in the red light._

My eyes slowly opened up from the nightmare I was having. Focussing, I realized I wasn't in the Andover medical bay at all. I was confused why I was here when I remembered what had happened last night. Turning my head to the side I saw a red headed girl with a green uniform sitting in a chair with another girl, with long black hair, and an eye patch over one of her eyes, and a white sailors uniform on from what looks like of Fuso origins.

"Good, you're awake." The red headed girl said as I sat up. "I'm Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing and behind me is Major Mio Sakamoto. What's your name?"

"Ember Vermillion. 2nd Lieutenant of the Liberion Air Force and part of the 370th Fighter Group."

"The Fire Maiden of Liberion. It's nice to meet a Witch like yourself." Looking around I only saw the three of us in the room and I started to get worried. "Where's my sister? Is she all right?"

"She's doing just fine. She woke up an hour before you did and she's doing just fine."

"What about the rest of the 370th? How are they doing." She only looked off to the side and I understood everything. "I see... Well, I kind of saw that one coming with the amount of Neuroi I sensed..."

"Sensed?" Mio questioned me

"Oh yeah. I'm able to sense Neuroi in a certain distance but that sense is only limited to Neuroi only. As for the amount... Around 10+ large type Neuroi and 15+ medium types attacking. We managed to down about 4 of them, with one of them I downed, when I ran with Colonel Helma to make the call then... I remember an explosion in the room where Helma was before being buried under ruble."

"That fact made you lucky. The whole base was basically destroyed and they must have forgotten or couldn't sense you under all the rubble." Mio had also pointed out.

"What will happen to my sister and I now? The 370th squadron is basically destroyed and our Group Commander is dead..."

"That, I've taken care of." Minna said calmly. I looked at her with a raised eye brow before she continued. "I've contacted your superiors and they've agreed in letting both you, and your sister, join the 501st JFW." She stuck out her hand with a friendly and I took it kind of shocked. "Welcome to the Strike Witches Ember. Is it all right with me calling you Ember?"

"It's all right... How about my equipment?"

"USAAF command are sending over replacement equipment for both your own and sister Striker along with weapons and ammunition. They said that there's a new varient of the P-38 Striker unit that's being developed for you and it's currently in the final stages of being designed and built. It should be completed in a two months plus. They say it's very unique with a new engine installed and a new airframe to hold these new engines." From then on, I was staying with the 501st. I was later introduced to the rest of the Witches in the group. Apparently the Charlotte that my sister mentioned was actually Shirley after all and was ecstatic knowing that she will be spending more time with her. Blaze had started to join Sanya out on the night patrols helping her out and turned to her night cycle so I have to drag her around through the day when she's not sleeping. Mio soon left for Fuso needing some supplies and that was nearly two months ago. From there, nothing much really has happened since then and that's how I've ended up in this room in the 501st base. Everyone here was very kind to both Blaze and I on our first few days here on base... Some more grabby and touchy-feely in some... Area's of the body than the others but we feel welcome. Everything seemed to be finally righting itself and I just hope to god that it won't be flipped over again.

* * *

**And there's the first chapter! Though just a heads up, I like writing in multiple POV's in my stories so sorry if the shift from Ember retelling the story to Minna's POV during that retelling was a bit... Clunky or weird feeling. It's just how I write. Still, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter!**

**Here's also the information about both Ember and Blazette.**

**Name: Ember Vermilion**

**Age: 16**

**Cup Size: C**

**Rank: 2nd Lieutenant**

**Nation: Liberion**

**Animal: Golden Eagle**

**Striker: P-38-J Lightning (Later Changed)**

**Weapon: Modified M2 Heavy Machine gun**

**Squad Affiliation: 370th Fighter Group and 501st JFW**

**Magic Powers: Enhanced Strength and a power to Detect Neuroi in a limited range**

**Hair Color: Red and shoulder length**

**Eyes: Red**

**Name: Blazette "Blaze" Vermillion**

**Age: 14**

**Cup Size: B**

**Rank: Sergeant**

**Nation: Liberion**

**Animal: Silver Fox**

**Striker: P-61-C Blackwidow**

**Weapon: Modified 1919 for shoulder fire use.**

**Squad Affiliation: 370th Fighter Group, 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group, 501st JFW Strike Witches**

**Magic Powers: Magic Antennae's that can detect Neuroi, send and receive radio waves and has a limited area where she can broadcast thoughts **

**Hair Color: Shot spiked-ish red hair**

**Eyes: Red**

**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	2. Chapter 2

**So I'll just keep this short and say thank you all who read and reviewed this story. Now without any further delay, ONTO THE STORY!**

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

It's nearly time for Mio's return from Fuso on the carrier Akagi and we all were on stand by since there's a warning of a Neuroi presence in our area. Blaze was partly pacing around in the hanger waiting to jump into her Striker once the call comes in while outside Perrine was lecturing both Lucchini and Shirley about how they shouldn't be sun tanning while we're on stand bye. I, on the other hand, am busy reassembling my M2 heavy machine gun after a thorough cleaning and only finished when both Sanya and Eila came back in after their patrol. Slapping down the upper receiver, I pulled back the charging handle in one smooth motion. Pulling the trigger, I got a sound click of the hammer falling.

"Hey Ember, when's the Akagi getting here?" My sister moaned out.

"It's got about another half day worth of travel Blaze just be patient!"

"But I want to kill some Neuroi!" As if on cue, the low drone of the air raid siren sounded off bringing everyone to full alert.

"The enemy? But it's too soon!" I heard Perrine gasp out.

"You got your wish Blaze! Come on!" I yelled, slapping an ammo box onto my gun feeing a fresh round into the belt tray. With two quick pulls of the handle, the gun was fully charged and ready to fire. Loading another ammo box into a special light weight sling, I jumped into my own Striker, Golden Eagle features coming out as the twin Allison engines roared to life. All the other Witches were scrambling to get into their own Strikers when Minna ordered to launch when ready. Both Blaze, Lynne and myself took off quickly with both Trude and Erica close on our tails. The rest soon took off from the ground as well and we angled towards the carrier. "Minna, what's the situation?"

"A large type Neuroi is attacking the carrier and only Mio, with a handful of A5M4's, are defending it. One escorting ship has all ready been hit."

"A5M4's?... We need to hurry!" Pushing further over the blue seas we finally made it to our destination. In the distance, there was the large outline of a black Neuroi with two small specks flying around the large black plane like entity.

"Whose that?" Perrine pointed out. "I thought the Major was supposed to be returning alone!"

"That? That's going to be our newest recruit into the 501st! Lynne, are you close enough to fire effective?"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" She fumbled with her Boys Anti Neuroi Rifle slightly as she slowed down into her hovering mode as the rest of us charged on forward. My grip on the M2 tightened as we neared when I heard three distinct pops of the Boys rifle behind us. Three .55 inch armor piercing bullets whizzed by us expertly placed before they smashed into the Neuroi's. Seconds later the backside of the Neuroi blasted out into a white puff before the rest of it disintegrated into white fragments.

"Target and Core confirmed hit." Trude reported. "Neuroi destroyed."

"Eh!? Who's that in the Majors arms!?" Getting closer we all noticed a new, girl in a Fuso sailors uniform, and a Striker attached to her legs, was in Mio's arms passed out. Perrine charged off to see if 'her Major' was all right and we all shared a slight laugh at her reaction.

'_Oh, so obvious.'_ I thought as I circled around the carrier. Getting the OK from Minna, most of returned back to our base while Trude and Erica stood behind to protect the carrier if any more surprise attacks came. Landing, we congratulated Lynne on her kill before waiting out the carrier to finally arrive. Since there wasn't really anything else to do, everyone went their own way doing what ever they could to pass the time. Both Shirley and I, being the mechanics we are, were tending to our own Strikers while Lucchini went to her favorite tree to take a nap. Both Blaze and Sanya were now asleep trying to get back onto the night shift schedule and I have no clue where Perrine, Lynne, and Eila are. Thought I couldn't help but think it was kind of weird how we've got yet another member for the 501st coming in. Both Blaze and I been in the group for only over two months and now we've got another one coming in. Those two months were some of my most difficult ones, but also some of the more rewarding ones.

* * *

_**-Two months ago-**_

My legs wobbled slightly as I got up from the medical bed I was placed in before I followed Minna to who knows where. Going through two doors, I came to an area with a few large tables and multiple witches eating what smelled like some bacon and eggs. In the room, I noticed a red headed Liberion sitting with my sister chatting away. Next to the Liberion was a petite black haired girl who also looked like she was of Romagna origins. On the other side, was another girl in a grey Karlsland uniform and twin pigtails in her brown hair. Next to her was another girl in a black Karsland uniform. There was also a blond haired girl with glasses and a blue uniform on. Sitting next to her was a light brown haired girl in a sweater with a long braid going down her back. At the end of the table were two silver haired girls, one sleeping slightly as she ate and the other propping her up as she ate. Silence filled the room as all eyes looked up towards me.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet our second newest member, Ember Vermilion." Minna said and everyone gave a slight smile towards me. Soon everyone started with their introductions starting off with Shirley and went down the line with Lucchini, Gertrude, Erica, Perrine, Lynne, Sanya, and Eila. Taking a plate full of scrambled eggs, I sat down next to my sister as soon as chatter started up again.

"So, you're the Ember this little devil's been talking about?" Shirley asked leaning on over towards me slightly.

"I am... Then you must be this Charlotte my sis told me about as well?"

"That's me!" She said with a big smile, pointing to herself with a thumb.

'_Such energy...'_ Taking a few bits of my food, felt two hands slip around my chest groping me. My face started to heat up as I looked behind me to see the little Romagna was behind me.

"So, how is she?" Shirley asked the little girl.

"Small... But firm... 6 out of 10! Still not better than Shirley's!" She yelled. I was going to bonk her in the head when a memory of a member of my old squad popped into my head.

'_Ashly...'_ I guess I pushed her away a bit to roughly for she fell down to the ground letting a little, "Ouch," slip out of her mouth, attracting all eyes onto me. Not saying a thing, I got up from my chair and left with some haste.

"Did I do something wrong?" Was the last thing I heard before the door closed behind.

* * *

_**Blazette's POV:**_

I looked after my sister as she left quickly when Lucchini looked around surprised.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked out loud when Shirley got up quickly, knocking her chair down behind her.

"I need a word with her."

I felt the tinge of anger in her voice as she got up when Minna spoke up.

"Please sit down Shirley."

"But-"

"Please sit. It's only her first day here after last night. You know what type of turmoil she must be going through. You saw what happened at the base."

"... Yes, ma'am..." She sat down and the silence continued.

"Uuummm..." I nervously started. "I-If it would clear up what just happened... We used to have a squad member that had the same fondness for some... Things... Her name was Ashly and I guess you reminded sis of her..." I said quietly.

"I did?" Lucchini asked, tears brimming her eyes. I patted her head trying to calm her down slightly.

"D-Don't worry about it! Y-You didn't know about her so it's not your fault... Though I worry about her..." Looking back down at my food, we all continued to eat our food.

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

I was wondering around the base, head hanging low trying to forget. I wasn't prepared for what happened last night in the slightest; for everything I knew to be destroyed and there was nothing I could do about it.

'_I wish I could have gone down with the rest of my squad in battle... I shouldn't be here...'_ I thought when I wondered into the hanger spotting the long line of Striker units ranging from MesserschmittBf 109 G-2's to Mitsubishi A6M3's and P-51 Mustangs. Though on a work bench was sitting a familiar Striker, my sisters' Northrop P-61 Black Widow. Walking over to it, I picked it up seeing some of the black pain was scratched and a chunk of the metal surface was missing. Looking around, I found some tools and I busied myself in repairing what ever damage I could. Checking the Pratt and Witney R-2800 Double-Wasp Radial Magical engine, I found no damage down. Neither was the driveshaft and only some internal tubing was damaged. Scavenging the parts I needed, I went to work patching up the tubing and hole when I heard a voice behind me.

"Oh, so the 'Fire Maiden' I've been hearing about is also a fellow mechanic?" Turning around, I came eye to eye with the Shirley who had a slight smile on her face.

"Sorry about earlier." I turned back around, not looking up from my work as I talked to her. "I didn't mean to push her that hard it's just that-"

"That she reminds you of your old squadmate?" I remained silent at the mention of it. "Are you blaming yourself for what happened to them?"

"What do you think I'm doing? They all died and I couldn't do a thing about it! I wanted to go up and fight along side them and die beside them." My hands started to tremble slightly as I kept on working. "I needed to be up there... I needed to be with them... Maybe some of them would have lived maybe-"

"Ember." She cut me off. "What if you didn't make it back? What if you got shot down with the rest of them? What would happen to Blaze?" I jolted my hand back as I cut myself on one of the mangled pieces of metal, a small crimson dot forming at the end of my finger. "Now look what you've done... Luckily, I'm always prepared." She walked over to me taking my hand, wrapping a bandage over it.

"I know you wanted to go down with your squad. I know you wanted to be with them. But, remember this: Keep on flying for their sake. It's what they would have wanted for you." What Shirley shook me down to the core. _'What would happen to Blaze if I left her?'_ I thought. _'More importantly what would also happen to my mother... She's all ready unstable with the loss of our father... No, I won't die.'_

Shirley turned around to leave but gripped her hand preventing her before pulling her into a hug.

"Thank you Shirley. I lost my way and I'd like to thank you for it."

"Hey, hey, anything for a fellow Liberion pilot!"

"There's a beast inside of me. It will not die; it will fight back!" I said confidently, releasing her and I looked at her with a smile when I noticed her eyes were looking past me for a quick second and I smirked. "So what would you say if you could work on the second Striker Unit?" I raised an eye brow, gesturing towards the second unit that was sitting on the table unattended and her eyes sparckled.

"Ooohhh! I've always wanted to work on a Black Widow!" She acted like a child in a candy store as she dove for the Striker pulling it apart. Looking at the entrance to the hanger, I thought I saw some red hair and a green uniform but I shrugged it off, returning to my work on the Striker. "Hey Ember, do you tune your sister's Striker?"

"Yeah." Looking up at her in the corner of my eye as she let out a whistle.

"'Cause damn, I did not think that there'd be another mechanic, let alone a Witch mechanic, out there that rivals me in maintaining a Striker unit." I let out a dry laugh at her compliment.

"I try to keep them in tip top shape for any scramble we have. If I had my Lightning, it would be singing when we fly."

"Singing? Pfft, my Merlin's can dance! My Merlin's can beat your Lightning in both sound _**and**_ speed! I'd think you'd upgrade to the P-51 than stay with that old relic. Merlin's are better than Allison's!~" She chimed as I activated my magic to mend some metal for the outer surface. "Whoa, you have super strength?"

"Eh... Not Super Strength but more like... Enhanced Strength... But, the Allison's still reliable engine! And when your P-51 had the Allison's, the P-38 was kicking your ass!" I pouted.

"Yeah, yeah, the P-38 was kicking the castrated P-51's ass but what ever! Merlin's are in! Allison's are out! We'll see who's better once your Striker comes in." Grinning I stuck my hand out and she took it with a strong hand shake.

"May the better Striker win!" Finishing up the paneling for the broken Striker I looked around seeing an empty launcher unit. Placing, and locking, them into the launcher, I jumped in for a test run. Shirley attached some devices to the Striker itself before giving me a thumbs up to begin.

"Let 'er rip!" Activating my magic, I started to pump magic into the Striker turning over the engines before the twin radial engines roared to life. Giving a thumbs up to Shirley, she nodded and gave a thumbs up back towards me. Adding more magic, the RPM's started to climb before I reached the max cruising speed without a hitch. Waiting for a few more seconds, to see if anything would go wrong, I slowly let the RPM's die down before killing the engines.

"Everything felt fine on my end. Yours?"

"Everything went perfectly. Now if there's a Neuroi attack, we'll be one Witch stronger!" She said triumphantly when I sensed a little Romagian behind me.

"Oh, hi there uh... Lucchini was it?"

"Please, call me Francesca."

"All right Francesca, What do you want to talk about?" I looked amusingly as little Franny was trying to form her words.

"I uuhh... I... I wanted to eerr..."

"Well come on spill it out all ready!" She barked at her.

"Waaaahhhh! I wanted to say I was sorry!" She bowed her head down after saying that causing a radical idea came to mind.

"Of Francesca..." I started to sneak around behind her. "You're forgiven!"

"R-Really?" She looked up confused. "Eh? Where'd she go?" She looked side to side trying to find me.

"But only a little,~" My hands went around her chest and she screamed, squirming around.

"Ahaahahaaha!" Shirley started to laugh while Francesca was whining. "So Ember, what do you think?"

"Mmmmm... Consolation prize..." I said, letting go of the little Romagian.

"Meany! After I forgave you too!" I gave out a hearty laugh.

"I guess you like giving out the attention than receiving it!" Recovering my composure, I walked towards her as she hid behind Shirley. "Now lets start over all right? I'm Ember." I held my hand out to her.

"And I'm Francesca." She poked her head from behind Shirley grasping my hand tightly.

"Nice to meet you Francesca. Now go on and run to do what ever you do..." She yawned in response.

"I do feel like a nap in my favorite tree!" She quickly ran off with a smile on her face to who knows where in the forest.

"A good kid..."

"Though she can get on some peoples nerves..." We stood in silence as a cold breeze came into the hanger.

"Hey Shirley."

"Hm?"

"Until my Striker comes in, can you look after my sister if she goes out on a daytime flight?"

"I'll keep watch over her if there's a Neuroi engagement!" She gave a thumbs up to me when the air raid siren went off. "Well speak of the devil itself..." The other Witches were swarming into the hanger starting up their Strikers when Minna handed me a small object.

"It's an intercom for the Squadron. Can you monitor the base from the radar room while we're off?" Saluting I gave a nod.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good." With herself running off, Blaze approached me as well, just putting the intercom into her ear.

"Is my Striker ready?"

"Shirley and I just fixed and tuned it up for you."

"Great! ... But I don't have a weapon..."

"Yo! Blaze!" Looking at Shirley, she tossed her a BAR assault rifle and a small ammo pouch for her. "It's my spare so don't break it!" She yelled over the roar of Striker Engines and added to the noise as she started her own Striker. Blaze pulled out the magazine tapping it twice on the side of the gun before slapping it back in, pulling the charging handle back loading a round and starts her own Striker. Stepping back, from the group, I saluted them as they took off to engage the enemy.

'_Good luck Blaze...' _Making haste, I made it up to the radar room, watching the progress of the Witches. The ten dots were progressing towards a rather larger dot on the radar, I listened to how they were coordinated.

"_Lynne provide support from the rear. Blaze, Shirley, and Lucchini, I want you to provide the second wave of attack. Trude and Erica go at it from the left while Mio, Eila, and I take it from the right."_

"_Roger that, come on Blaze!"_ I watched as the dots broke up into groups before going in to strafe the enemy listening to the orders given out.

"_There! The core's exposed!"_ Trude pointed out.

"_I got it!"_ I heard my sister call out.

'_Come on...'_

"_Woohoo! Blaze bagged one!" _Shirley cheered. The radio was soon filled with congratulations, congratulating Blaze for the kill when Minna spoke up.

"_Come on everyone, return to base."_ As everyone returned, we had a mini party for Blaze's first kill as a 501st member and I decided I'd do a little something for dinner. Knocking on the commander's office, I got an OK to enter.

"Hey, Commander."

"Please, call me Minna."

"Minna... What plans does the 501st have for dinner?"

"We have a person that usually cooks but we can have people cook for us but you can go cook something. Why?"

"I just thought I might cook up one of my cuisines for this one occasion..." A sly smirk popped up onto my face and she understood.

"I'll be looking forward to it." Leaving, I checked the time and it was nearly dinner time as well. Walking into the kitchen, I located everything I needed: two large deep dish pan to cook it in, beef, eggs, cheese, and some onions. Placing the ground beef into a pan to brown up, I started to beat the eggs into a yellow stew before dicing up the onions for later. Finishing up with grating the cheese, the beef was finally browned when my sister walked into the kitchen.

"I smell something good!~"

"That, I can agree with you." Shirley quickly followed up. I looked up for a second seeing the two before my sister's eyes grew to almost saucer size.

"You're not..."

"I am."

"No way."

"Yes, way."

"You didn't."

"But I am."

"Ok, what's going on between you two?"

"SHE'S MAKING CHEESEBURGER PIE!" She screamed out before staring at the cooked meat, mouth watering.

"... What's cheese burger pie?"

"Only the best thing EVER!"

"Oh, you'll know in a few minutes my little Charlotte." I placed the beef evenly into the two pans and threw on the cheese in an even coat before pouring in the eggs, completely covering the beef. Carefully, I placed the two of them into the pre-heated oven and the wait begins. "You two want to help setup the tables while this cooks?"

"Sure."

"If it means I get to eat faster, then I will!" My sister said before running off, setting up the tables in record time might I say.

"Oh, you're cooking." I heard the soft voice of Lynne behind me.

"It's for this special occasion today." I said, waiting around the oven.

"All right then." She bowed slightly before taking a seat. Sooner or later, the dinning hall was starting to fill up with the other Witches. With a ding on the timer signaling 'pie' was done cooking, I pulled on some mitts and pulled the two trays out. Some people gave the thing a confused look while my sister was staring at it, an obvious gleam in them as she stared. Placing it on the table, I started to serve everyone. Perrine looked at it with some scorn while Erica poked at it.

"What is this exactly?" Trude questioned me.

"Cheeseburger pie. It's good." I said taking a bite and melting away from the taste. Blaze on the other hand was devouring her own serving while Shirley took a speculative bite.

"It's really good!" She shouted before taking another bite.

"Well how bad could it be..." Erica then took a bite before everyone seemed to take their first bite. Praises were thrown at me as people started to dig in. Even Perrine gave a praise after she saw her Major eating it and liking it.

"It wasn't that bad..." She said but I saw the glint of, "It's really good," in her eye. After that, things seemed to smooth out with the group. They were excepting us with open arms and we just mended right into their daily routines. Blaze had even gotten back into her night patrol schedule and helped out Sanya in their night patrols. After a few more days of waiting, grounded because of a lack of a Striker, a C-47 Skytrain started their approach to the base. I was hanging out on the runway, laying there in the sun when I noticed a glint in the distance. Sitting up, squinting some, I could make out a C-47 coming in for an approach with a Witch in front, escorting it.

'_Is that...'_ A grin formed on my face as I recognized the Witch and my grin only widened when I put two-and-two together. Running back towards the hanger to give room for the transport plane to land, I met Minna in the hanger.

"I was going to make it a surprise but I guess you saw it before I could find you..."

"Come on Minna, why would you do that to meeee..." I whined. "It's my Striker unit! I've been itching to get back into the sky!" Standing at her side, we watched as the first Witch escorting touched down first, saluting Minna.

"Captain Seris Aryhart." She said before I gave her a hard slap on the back.

"Dirt Mound! How have you been!?" She stumbled a bit, taking a few steps to balance herself before glaring at me.

"Come on Ember! I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Oh, you know that name will stick to you for ever Seris!" Minna gave me a questioning look before wrapping and arm around Seris. "Sorry about that Minna. I've known Seris since flight school back in Liberion. As for the nickname she has... Well, on the first day when we used a Striker Unit, she nose dived into the ground from the start and had a giant dirt mound on her head."

"Hey! But I got better! I was in the top 8 people to exit the that class of 38!... I also heard what happened to the 370th. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Hey, it's nothing. I'm feeling a bit better now since that day... Anyway! How about my equipment." My grin was only getting wider as I saw the C-47 touch down and start taxiing down the runway when I heard Minna chuckle lightly.

"From what I heard from you Ember is that you were sort of stuck up with a militaristic moral."

"That? That's the side of me to get the troops moral up... But, I'm not like that around friends... Some times."

"Good, 'cause we don't need a Trude from Liberion..."

"God help us if we did... So Seris! Equipment!" She only sighed shacking her head.

"You've got your replacement P-38-J in there equipped with a Launch Unit since you seem to be lacking some, ammunition for your main weapon, your main weapon of course, and extra parts for your Lightning, Black Widow, and the Mustang that's in your group. We've also brought your sister an extra Black Widow. We've also got a customized backpack ammo storage unit that can hold up to three 100 round ammunition boxes. You've also got you lightweight scramble sling for another ammo box. Though your P-38 is a bit different than the rest. It's got a slightly larger Allison engine and had a power boost of about 8%. Though if you want the fine details, you can read the documents that come with everything." In front of us, the C-47 swung it's tail around having it face sideways to us. When the engines were cut, the side paneling of the plane started to come off revealing a whole tone of crates in the back. Three smaller ones, four Striker sized ones, one very long and skinny one, and one large crate in the back. With the help of a certain Karlslandian Witch, we got the Striker Launcher down from the plane and I took two of the smaller crates. After a few minutes of moving, we finally got everything off the plane and the side panel was refitted to the side of the plane and I had to say good bye to Seris.

"Hey, stay safe out there." I said, hugging my friend.

"And you too Ember! Liberion's moral would have taken a great blow Ms. Fire Maiden dies suddenly." She teased before waving as the C-47 took off. Looking behind me, I could see an array of crates in the hanger now. Some were on shelves since they were parts, but three of them crates interested me the most. Walking up to the largest crate, I pulled one of the straps free and all the wooden panels started to fall off revealing my Striker. The P-38 Model J had an aluminum finish to it, giving of a shine while there were black and white bars on each of the little wings of the Striker. I ran my hand over the Striker, the metal cool to the touch and smooth against my finger. Looking it over, it was basically the same as my old Striker except it was redesigned around the larger engine.

"I like my Merlins more but damn, that's one fine piece of machinery." Turning to see Shirley staring at my Striker.

"Well, if you think that's great, check the weapon I take out to battle." Going to the longest crate we had, I used my strength to rip off the top and look down at the expert craft-mens ship done with my weapon. "This, is what I call a gun." Grabbing the top handle and the custom pistol grip at the end of the machine gun. Turning around Trude only nodded as if saying, "Not bad." Why Shirley shook her head.

"That explains why you've got you kill count. You overkill the Neuroi!"

"What? I just felt that the 7.62mm bullets weren't doing much... So I upgraded to 12.7 BMG heehee. Say Minna," I turned to the red headed Karlslandian, "is there a firing range where I can test fire my weapon?"

"In the back. I'll show you." Grabbing the sling for the weapon, mounting them to the hard points on the gun, and a 100 round ammo box, I followed Minna to the back of the base into the trees. There I found some freshly painted targets at 30 yards and beyond. Sliding a box into the box catch and feeing a fresh round into the feeding tray, I cocked the handle twice before bracing myself for the recoil. "You may commence firing!"

Squeezing the trigger, I let one round go down range smacking into the target. I remember the vibration the gun makes, but I also felt how stiff the gun was when firing. Pulling off burst next at a farther target, I was finally getting used to the recoil again before I just let go and emptied the rest of the belt down range. Brass casing and chain links littered the ground bellow around my feet. The smell of cordite was in the air; I was finally home again. After that, Mio announced that she will be departing for some supplies back in Fuso and the same day Shirley and I had our little contest. I was able to keep up with her but the Mustang performed just ever so slightly better in all categories except for acceleration. With my Striker, I returned to the skies once more as a Witch, fighting with the Witches of the 501st; The Strike Witches.

* * *

_**-Current Day-**_

The Akagi had docked yesterday and some soldiers came down with all the supplies and unloaded them at the base. One of the had a message from the Major saying that she has a place that she needs to go to before returning to the base. Now being the next day, we all were sitting in the main meeting hall waiting for both Mio, and that new Witch we saw yesterday, to arrive. Blaze was hugging a pillow and sleeping soundly in her chair while some of the others were sitting diligently. Francesca was sleeping on her table, right behind Shirley. Everyone hadn't really said anything since we came to this meeting as well and the silence was only broken when the doors swung open. All eyes darted towards the door seeing the stone hard Mio and a timid looking brown haired girl behind her. The two of them walked forward and Blaze looked up sleepily at the new girl as well before she stood in front of the room with Minna at her side. Perrine on the other hand was shooting daggers out of her eyes as she looked at the new girl.

"Everyone," Minna started, "allow me to introduce our newest recruit. Brought to us by Major Sakamoto from the Fuso Empire, this is Yoshika Miyifuji."

"I'm Yoshika Miyifuji." She bowed to us. "It's nice to meet you all!"

"Her rank is Sergeant. Lynne, since your the same rank, I want you to look after her. I also want Ember to look after her as well.

"Huh? Why me?"

"You're new here as well so lets try to make her feel welcome, 'kay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"All right. All the documents, clothing, rank insignia, and identification you need are here."

"Uuumm..." I could see her glance at her issued Walther PPK pistol.

"Yes?"

"Uumm..." She walked over to the pistol, grasping the barrel and handing it to Minna. "I don't need this."

'_She won't need this?'_ I thought.

"You should have it with you just in case."

"I won't use it..."

"I see..." Minna took the gun from her and Mio just laughed.

"Oh, such a peculiar girl." Perrine just scoffed. "Saying such things about her..." She scooted back towards Lucchini whispering something to her and only getting an, "Eh?" in response.

"Oh, come on!" She just got up and started to leave.

"What's with her?" Blaze asked sleepily.

"Well... That can't be helped at all... Individual introductions will have to wait. Dismissed." We all stood up, the room filled with the sound of chairs rubbing against the ground when Minna looked around slightly before leaving. Looking around, I wondered where the little Romagian went when I heard a surprised scream. Looking over at the new girl, she had all ready sunk her "teeth" into her "Prey"

"So, what do you think?"

"... Consolation Prize..." Lucchini said disappointedly.

"Lynne's were bigger heehee." Eila joked and Lynne looked down embarrassed.

"Hahahahahaha! Not as big as mine!" Shirley boasted fondling with her voluminous chest. Guessing where Yoshika's eyes were pointed at, she was staring intently at Shirley's chest when Sanya and Eila walked up to her.

"Eila Ilmater Juutilainen. Soumus Air Force 2nd Lieutenant. And this," She looked down at the sleepy Sanya, "Is Sanya Litvyak. Orussian Army's 1st Lieutenant."

"I'm Francesca Lucchini!" Lucchini said, digging her face out of Shirley's chest. "Ensign in the Romaagna Regia Aeronautica!" Getting up from where I was sitting, I went forward to Yoshika.

"Hi, I'm Ember Vermilion. 2nd Lieutenant of the United States Army Air Force. And that," I pointed at my sleeping sister. "Is Sergeant Blazette Vermilion."

"Nice to meet you... Wait, Vermilion? Does that mean that..."

"Yep, she's my little sister."

"Okay! That's enough for the introductions. Everyone, time for duty." Mio announced. "Lynne and Yoshika will be training this after noon."

"Yes ma'am!"

"At least you're enthusiastic. Ember, will you show Yoshika around the base?"

"Roger that." I said, before turning towards Shirley. "Hey, Shirley, can you get Blaze back to her room while I go and take the new girl for a tour?"

"No prob. Come on Blaze." Getting up, she hobbled after Shirley, clutching her pillow the whole way. "God, a Night Patrol Witch in the daytime is like a zombie in real life..." Walking over to both Lynne and the newbie, I could see the two of them were getting along quite well.

"Ah, Ember, you're taking her on the tour now?"

"You can tag along with us if you want Lynne."

She nodded her head and we started the tour. We went around finding Yoshika's own dormitory and we had to stop at my sisters room because she somehow didn't make it into her room and fell asleep right outside of her door. We then went to the dinning room and then the kitchen which Yoshika seemed to brighten up around.

"Who's exactly on cooking duty?" She asked.

"We've got a person that usually cooks for us but sometimes we cook our ethnic meals."

"I wonder I could make a Fuso dish for everyone..."

"I've never had a Fuso dish before."

"You haven't Ember?"

"I usually eat what I get and I haven't really been around before so yeah."

"Are you good at cooking Yoshika?"

"Eh. I wouldn't say that I'm good but I'm happy when people do eat my food."

Next we went down to the bathing area were we found Shirley soaking in the water and I swear, Yoshika's eyes went saucer sized when she saw Shirley's chest. Ushering Yoshika out, we went outside down to the firing range where we saw Perrine talking with Mio. Rounding around the base, I saw where both Trude and Erica had snuck off to. Reporters were taking notes and pictures of Erica with Trude in the background.

"Who's that?" Yoshika asked, pointing to the blond haired Karslandian soldier.

"That's Flight Officer Erica Hartmann. Her kill count had only recently reached over 200." Lynne said.

"200!? So you all were fighting the Neuroi that long..."

"Lieutenant Barkhorn next to her has shot over 250 of them and Commander Minna has over 160 confirmed kills." I explained. "My kill count is not even close to both Trude's and Erica's."

"Don't sell yourself short Ember. You've shot down over 115 of them yourself."

"You too Ember? Wow!" Yoshika looked at me with a slight gleam in her eyes.

"Everyone else has amazing magical abilities and are protecting many peoples' homeland. The Witches are really amazing."

"Well... The only thing I can do is heal."

"That's still amazing. I can't do anything, and just slow everyone down."

"That's not..."

"Lets move on." Lynne lowered her head down and started to turn her head around when she bumped into the wall we were next.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" We then ventured to the look out area on the top of the base.

"This," I pointed out, "is the highest point on the base. This base is based on a small island protruding from the Straight of Dover. To our South-East there's the continent but unfortunately, most of it has fallen into enemy hands..." We stood in silence, letting the wind blow in our ears before I took them down to the runway, handing them over to Mio. To my amusement, I stuck around and watched as Mio tortured the poor girls, forcing them to run up and down the runway before moving on to other physical training. Next, I saw Lynne testing out her long range ballistics magic, shooting at a metal plate that I couldn't see before they went back into the hanger to grab some Striker's and took to the skies. Perrine came down as well to practice with her Major and Mio invited me to take to the skies as well. Agreeing, we all took flight, practicing dogfighting maneuvers in the sky until the two of them couldn't fly anymore. The sky had turned orange as the light started to fade.

"You're already worn out Miyifuji? Well, it is your first day so it's to be expected. Though your magic control is very sloppy. Baseline stamina is also very poor."

"A newbie like you will just be a nuisance to the rest of us. Why don't you hurry back home?" Perrine scoffed.

"Don't be so harsh against her Perrine." I shot back. "We all were like this when we first started out as Witches. Hell, even I had trouble with training when I first took off." I looked down at Yoshika on the ground. "I'm quite envious how she took to the skies for the first time so well and easily..."

"That, I agree with you partially Ember. She's a novice with no prior training like the rest of us. Please, ease up on her Perrine."

"More importantly though, Major Sakamoto, there's an aerial combat technique I'd like to try."

"I see. Shall we go up one more time then?"

"Yes! I'd love to!"

"All right. That will be all for today Miyifuji and Lynne. Ember, can you help the two of them back into the hanger?"

"Got it Mio." With that, the two of them took off and I helped them back out of their Strikers and back into the hanger before I went away for some dinner. I then took a bath in the bathing room before I tucked in for the night, with my sister getting ready for the night patrol.

'_Another Witch for the group... That brings us up to 13 Witches in the Fighter Wing... Trouble seemed to follow where ever I go and it seems like it likes Yoshika as well... This might be an interesting time for us all...'_ I thought as I closed my eyes, drifting off into my sleep.

* * *

**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	3. Chapter 3

_**Ember's POV:**_

I watch from the observation deck at the top of the tower as both Lynne and Yoshika were taking to the skies. Two white contrails were following each other but one was leading the other while the other was a bit shackey.

"No improvement what so ever..." I said out loud as I watched Yoshika try to keep up with Lynne. Lynne on the other hand hasn't changed either. She's doing great here in training but not when she's flying in combat. I only left when I saw Yoshika fly in between both Mio and Minna. Things have been quite boring to be honest in the past few days since Yoshika's arrival. No Neuroi activity has been reported around our area and things have been the same day in and day out. With nothing better to do, I went back down the hanger and pulled my sisters Striker off the launcher to tinker with them. Hours passed by as I removed, inspected, cleaned, and tinkered with all the parts of the Striker when I looked up, I noticing the time. The sky was turning orange yet again and I noted that both Lynne and Yoshika were panting on the ground. Screwing in the last bolt, I saw Trude walk past me and started to talk with them. What she said to them, I have no clue but knowing Trude it must have been something to help them.

"What's your opinion on those two Ember?" I turned around and faced Trude.

"They have much potential but..."

"But, they're progressing to slowly. It's either they get it, or they're going to die..." She looked away from me, furrowing her brow.

"Hey, they might improve greatly in the future."

"But, that future is looking quite far away..." She left and I looked out on the runway as the two of them got up and started to move into the hanger. Night had fallen all ready, and I was laying in my bed, thinking about what Trude had said to me. I couldn't sleep as I got up from my bed and went over to the window. The room I was assigned to had a window facing out towards the runway. Looking out of it, I could see it was partially cloudy except around the base. I narrowed my eyes since the conditions were nearly the same as when Andover was attacked when I noticed two people down at the edge of the runway. Squinting, I could make out both Lynne and Yoshika sitting out at the end of it.

'_Trude's right... If they don't improve when facing the enemy, it will be the death of them... Maybe if I give them a push tomorrow during training?'_ I saw Lynne get up from the end of the runway and start to run back towards us. In all my time with the 501st, it hadn't occurred to me why Lynne does so well during training missions but never while in combat. _'I guess I'll ask Lynne or Minna tomorrow.'_ Slipping under the covers of my bedding, I drifted off into sleep when I was awoken by the air raid siren in the morning. My eyes bolted open, heart beating as I got my uniform on and rushed down to the briefing room where everyone had gathered.

"We've received a report from the observation post that an enemy has entered the East grid, sector 114. It's at a higher altitude than usual so formation will be changed. Barkhorn and Hartmann will be up front. Shirley and Lucchini in the rear and both Mio and Perrine in the center. The rest of you will be standing by on base with me." I stood with both Lynne and Yoshika as we watched the six Witches take of to the sky to meet the enemy head on.

"They're all gone." Yoshika said quietly.

"Yes."

"Is there anything we can do now?"

"There's nothing that a burden like me can do..." Lynne said silently, turning around and ran back inside of the hanger.

"Lynette!" I watched as she ran by me.

"Miyafuji, may I speak with you?"

"Uh... Yeah."

"Britannia here is Lynne's homeland."

"Hm?"

"You know that Europe has fallen into the Neuroi's hands, don't you?" This was when I started to listen.

"Yes, Lynnette told me."

"This is Europe's last line of defense, and is also Lynne's homeland. She succumbs to the pressure of defending it in actual warfare."

"That explains why she does somewhat poorly in combat..." I said quietly.

"Precisely. Miyafuji, why did you decide to join the Witches?"

"Uuummm... I wish to help those who are in need." She said confidently.

"Lynne said the same thing when she enlisted. Never forget those feelings. I'm sure you will be able to help everyone then." With a smile, Minna went back inside the base as well and I stood there with Yoshika.

"Heh, that reminded me of why I first joined." I chuckled slightly as I pushed off the iron beam I was leaning on.

"Why did you join exactly Ember?"

"To protect everyone... I lost my father in the attack on Pearl Harbor back in 1941... It was only after a year that I discovered my magical powers and I had a very strong desire to not only protect my family, but also everyone I can. I thought I was useless since I couldn't fight back against the Neuroi and once I could, I didn't hesitate to enlist."

"Such courage..." A wind blew through with only silence following

"You should go talk to her."

"Huh?" She looked up at me confused.

"You should talk to Lynne. She's your friend after all right?"

"Y-Yeah!" She gave me a slight smile before running off after Lynne. I stood with my hands behind my back, looking off towards where Shirley and the others. A minute passed and I turned around to leave when I felt a Neuroi presence. Seconds later the air raid siren started to blare again. Quickly, I ran towards the briefing room to meet both Eila and Minna.

"No can do Minna. Sanya used up all of her magic during the night patrol." She crossed her two index fingers into an X.

"How about you Ember?" Minna turned towards me. "Is Blaze able to fly?"

"Same. No magic left what so ever."

"I see... Then the three of us will have to go."

"Roger-" Hearing foot steps behind us, I saw Yoshika, breathing hard, behind us.

"I will go, too!"

"It's much to soon for you to fight in actual combat."

"I will try to the best of my ability to not get in the way!"

"I cannot send anyone with inadequate training into battle."

"She's right Yoshika. It's way to soon for you to go into combat."

"But-"

"You also hesitate when you shoot."

"But I can shoot! If it's to protect someone... I will pull the trigger!"

"You're still inexperienced Yoshika." I said.

"But-"

"I will go too, then!" Lynne then stepped out into the door way as well. "The two of us together should at least amount to one Witch!"

"Mmhh... Get ready in 90 seconds!"

"Roger!" The two saluted and we all ran off towards the hanger. I jumped into my own Striker, familiar features coming out before we all took off to the sky.

"Enemy will be approaching from 3 o'clock! Eila and I will go on ahead. Miyafuji, Lynette, and Ember will stay behind to provide back up.

"Yes ma'am!"

"We're counting on you three if it gets past us." Both Eila and Minna soon sped ahead to engage the enemy while the three kept up out cruising speed.

"Hey Miyafuji..."

"Huh?"

"To tell you the truth, I was scarred." Lynne said to Yoshika behind me.

"I'm still scared to be honest." Yoshika returned."I don't know how to say it but... I was more scared to not do anything at all."

"And that's what you would call courage you two. It's the courage to protect others; to face the enemy."

"Ember?"

"I too was scared when I first went up. Petrified to be honest since it was my first time in hostile skies. But what drove me is the thought of what might happen if we failed. Keep that feeling and you will over come this fear." I looked back and saw the two hanging their heads when I felt the presence still around. Looking up, I squinted to see a white cloud but still feel the Neuroi presence.

"What's wrong?" Yoshika asked.

"Look over there!" Lynne pointed up ahead and I could kind of see it now." The three of us slowed down to the hover when I saw both Eila and Minna dive down to follow it.

"It's fast... Really fast!" I pulled the charging handle of my, loading a round into the chamber.

"Is that the Neuroi?"

"Looks like it."

"And it's coming our way fast!" Lynne fumbled with her rifle slightly before getting a solid grip on it, aiming down at it. One, two, three rounds Lynne squeezed off at the Neuroi but it seemed to be accelerating.

"It's no good, I can't hit it!"

"Yoshika! Do what you can to help Lynne."

"What about you Ember?"

"I'm meeting it head on." I gunned my Striker forward, before bringing up the machine gun on target. Pulling the trigger, I watched as tracer's flew across the sky and hitting the Neuroi when I got a click instead of a bang. _'It jammed!?'_ Rolling off to the side, avoiding a head on collision, I watched helplessly as the Neuroi sped away when six bright tracers flew across the sky. Two went low causing the Neuroi to pitch up when one caught it in the side. Three more shots blew through its body before it blew up into a the white dust, blowing into the two Witches.

"They did it..." Minna flew up beside me and I looked down at my gun, pulling up the upper receiver and pull one of the cartridges out looking at it with discontent.

"Minna, can you send a message to the Liberion army, asking for much higher quality ammunition? It nearly caused a breach in our perimeter."

"I'll do that..." The three of us watched amusingly as both Lynne and Yoshika fell down into the ocean. "Now lets fish those two out and return to base."

"Roger, that!" Flying low, I grabbed Yoshika's hands, pulling her up while Eila did the same with Lynne. Getting them back up into the air, we returned back to base with a few congratulations sent towards Lynne's direction. For the next few days, both Yoshika and Lynne have been showing signs of improvement in their training.

* * *

Walking into the kitchen one day, I over heard both Yoshika's and Lynne's conversation.

"Hey, Yoshika, did you hear? They said Kauhava Base mobilized for a missing child."

Wow, they do operations like that, too? That's amazing!"

"Yeah, and just for one child."

"But if you can't save individual people, then it's impossible to save everyone."

"Save everyone... That's just a fantasy..." I turned to see Trude had come in for breakfast.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I'm sorry... It was nothing..." She turned around with her food and sat back down at the table.

'_Trude's acting weird today...'_ I noted to myself when everyone else started to swarm into the mess hall. Everyone was saying hi, asking what's exactly was todays breakfast when Minna sat down at the table.

"Something wrong, Trude? What's with the long face?"

"You don't look hungry." Erica chimed in.

"That's not true!"

"You always eat so well, and yet you won't even touch your food." I watched out of the corner of my eye as she took a bite.

'_Yeah, there's defiantly something wrong with Trude. Even though I've known her for only a while now, there's defiantly something wrong with her.'_

"Seconds!" I broke my train of thought, hearing Lucchini ask for seconds. Yoshika quickly came over to serve her a second serving when she must have noticed Trude hadn't really eaten.

"Um... Do you not like it?" Without any response, Trude just got up and left.

"Seconds hurry!

"Yes, yes, just a second!"

"I don't blame Lieutenant Barkhorn. These rotten beans were definitely not something to be eaten!"

"I'm not sure about you Perrine but..." I took another bite. "This food has been much better than what we've regularly have in this unit. What is this exactly Yoshika?"

"Ah! This is Natto. Natto is good for you. Even Sakamoto says she likes it..."

'_Oohh, she hit the nail on the head!'_ Looking over at Perrine, something inside of her must have snapped.

"Sa-Sakamoto, you say?! It's 'Major' to you! Even I don't... Call her..." Her face started to heat up before she went on the offensive again. "Never mind that! Even though the major likes it, I definitely can't stand this horrible smell!"

"Seconds!" Lucchini cried out and I just sighed. After breakfast, I met Minna on the way out as to talk with her.

"Have you noticed?" I asked her and she nodded her head.

"Trude's definitely been acting weird lately." She confirmed my suspicions. "It's quite hard to miss when she's acting out of the usual."

"Maybe you should have her do a training exercise with Erica? Evaluate her performance."

"That might be a good idea. We will get a nice idea on if her performance has taken a blow."

* * *

Standing next to both Mio and Minna, I watched as both Erica and Trude take off into the sky. To some, their flying would be top notch with their performance, but the keen eyes of top flying aces could pick out the faults.

"She isn't keeping up..." Mio pointed out.

"Yeah, she's a little slow." Minna added.

"She's usually a perfectionists when it comes to drills..." I said quite concerned.

"Should we take her off the next shift?" Mio asked Minna.

"It's a little worrisome if we can't use our Ace."

"Definitely."

"Even though others have gotten better, we won't have enough fire power. Did she burn out from overwork or something?"

"I don't think so... Though it seems like... Something's bothering her... I've noticed it ever since Miyafuji arrived here..."

"Miyafuji?" I looked at her confused.

"Lets try pairing them up."

"Might work... Who knows..."

"If it means getting to the bottom of this, then I say we should take it." Mio said before walking off, leaving myself with Minna.

"Hey Minna... I don't mean to pry much but... How long have you known Trude to spot out something so subtle when Yoshika arrived?"

"I've known her since the beginning of this war." She looked off into the distance in what seemed as she was remembering things from the past.

"Did something traumatic happen to her before that might put her in the mood like this?"

"Well... I think there might be one case... It was when we were evacuating from Karlsland. Did you know that Trude has a sister?" I shook my head. "She has a sister named Chris. Tude, Erica, and I were fighting a Neuroi over the city and we destroyed it but ended up injuring Chris in the process. She saved lots of people's lives by destroying the Neuroi and gave others to escape but... She couldn't protect her sister from danger."

"... Could it be that Yoshika's demeanor to protect everyone is reminding her of what happened that night?"

"Maybe... But... It only hits me now but she kind of looks like Chris."

"Maybe that's it as well but this has to be resolved soon."

"I agree with that." Minna left me standing there when a cool breeze came along. The cold wind felt nice against my face when Yoshika passed me to start cleaning the base.

'_Such a busy girl.'_ Walking into the forest, I found what looked to be a nice spot under a tree to sleep, and I just drifted away only to wake up to someone poking my side. Opening up one of my brilliant red orbs, I saw little Lucchini poking my cheek.

"Shirley told me to tell you that we're having a meeting out on the deck. She also said for you to go retrieve Blaze for this meeting as well."

"Thanks for the info." Dusting myself off, I got up and went to my room to shake Blaze awake.

"Hey, Blaze."

"Nyah?"

"Minna's holding a meeting down on the deck.

"Ah. Uwwaaaahhh.~" She yawned as she got up and we both went down and grabbed a seat. Tea was poured and Minna began the briefing.

"According to the report from the Operation Room, we will attack the day after tomorrow. So everyone, please, use today to restore your spirits."

"And the night patrols?"

"Both yourself and Sanya will take shifts to get some sleep in so you'll be more prepared for the mission." Getting a nod from the two of them, Minna sat down again when Mio spoke up.

"Oh, and both Miyafuji and Lynee. You two still have training after this."

"Yes, ma'am! We understood!" The two of them responded. I took a sip of my own tea when I heard a slurp from Yoshika. Glancing over at Perrine, I could all ready see a retort forming on her lips.

"I swear, she's so indecent..."

"Huh?" She looked up quite surprised when Lynne leaned over something to her. "Oh! I'm sorry..." With everything cleaned up, I watched as Lynne and Yoshika ran along the runway, back and forth when I noticed Perrine between a few boxes, spying on the three. Sneaking behind her, I slid right next to her and propped my arm against one of the boxes.

"So, what do you see out there?"

"Wah!" She stumbled around and stood up straight before looking down at me. "I-I-I-I was only just watching over the Major! I mean uhh... Ummm..."

"Aaaaannnddd?" The red on her face would have put a rip tomato to shame.

"N-None of your business!" She stormed off twitching some and I held back a chuckle. Blaze on the other hand was still trying to get acclimated to the day time shift. She was snoozing here and there but she always was good at changing sleep cycles. Tinkering some on my Striker, Minna gathered up everyone up for it was pay day!

"I'd like to send half of it home Minna."

"Same." Blaze chipped in, quieter before she handed us our pay before moving onto Trude.

"What shall I do with it this time?"

"Do the same thing you usually do."

"You should keep some of it with you."

"I get clothes, food, and shelter. I don't need anything else."

"All right then..." She then moved onto Yoshika and by judging by her reaction, she doesn't know the conversion rate from Pounds to Yen. Putting away my pay, both Blaze and I decided to join both Lynne and Yoshika in the bath. Sliding in, I let the hot water wash away my stress.

"So, you decided to join us?" Lynne asked as I rested my head back.

"Yep, nothing like spending some time in hot water with my sister."

"And today I received my first salary. Didn't know I was getting paid so it surprised me... I thought I was in trouble for something though."

"Can't blame you." Blaze said, with a small smile. "Minna's quite difficult to read when she has her smile on. It's either a, 'You've done goofed,' or, 'I've got a surprise for you.'"

"The Witch that always smiles heehee." Lynne shared a small laugh.

"By the way, how much is one pound worth?"

"Fuso's currency is..."

"The yen if I'm not mistaken." I answered.

"With the recent rate..."

"One pound is 19.6 yen right now." A voice answered from behind the fountain.

"S-Sakamoto," Yoshika stammered, "you were in here, too?"

"If you didn't notice, you need to pay more attention!"

"Oh..."

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to pay attention when you're letting the stress melt away in the warm water Mio." Sliding deeper into the water, I let it go just bellow my nose, when I noticed Yoshika counting with her fingers.

"19.6 yes is about one bag full of rice so... Ten pounds is four thousand bowls of rice!?" her eyes seemed to gleam slightly when she finished the math.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Too much rice if you ask me." Blaze looked off to the side, scratching her cheek with her index finger.

"Though be sure to spend it carefully. By the way, this pay is half a month's worth."

"Sakamoto, why do we get paid so much?"

"Listen, we are always standing on the front lines. This is to go along with the fact that we could die tomorrow. So..."

"So?"

"So we have no regrets. They want us to be financially secure at least."

"I was close to death as it was with a payment of death and destruction..." I grumbled out, my eyes, falling half lidded as I sunk down into the water again. The bathing room's atmosphere was stale when Blaze pushed and held my head bellow the water. Arms flailing around and water splashing every where before I resurfaced and dunked her head down under. "Who's the tough Witch now huh!?" I let her resurface a second later and she glared at me before sitting down, cheeks puffed out of annoyance when Mio left to go take a shower.

"If that's the reason for this money, then I don't want it..."

"Even so, I'm glad to be able to send it to my family."

"Ditto."

"Send it?" Yoshika asked quite confused.

"I have many siblings heehee."

"I see. What about you Ember?"

"I just send it back to my mother. She's been having it hard for a while but she's getting better now."

"Hhhmm... Maybe I should send it to my mom and grandma, too!"

"Do what ever you want with it. It's your money." Stretching my arms out, Blaze sat up and grabbed her towel.

"It's about time for my night patrol. I'll see you tomorrow sis."

"Stay safe up there." After she had left, we all got out one by one. I just wanted to relax a minute longer before I grabbed my own towel and walked to the changing room. I was about to enter when I heard the shrill voice of Perrine, scolding Yoshika.

"You put a mop in my face, you slurp while sipping your tea, and top it off, you take a bath with the Major! You raccoon-dog!"

"Raccoon..."

'_If this escalates any higher, then I'm stepping in._

"That's right. If you don't like raccoon-dog, you can be mongrel!"

'_Ok, that's going way to far Perrine!'_

"That's enough!" Storming into the room, both Yoshika and Perring looked at me quite shocked, the latter a bit fearful.

"E-Ember." Perrine stammered.

"What's the meaning of this Perrine?" She flinched slightly as if the daggers I'm shooting out of my eyes had just impelled her. "I could stand some of the banters you have for Yoshika here, but this has just gone to far... But, a mop in the face, Yoshika?"

"It was by accident!"

"Never mind that. Perrine, that comment was not acceptable nor necessary at all!"

"But-"

"Now, now, that's enough." Turning around, we all saw Minna standing at the door. "You know... Fighting between Witches is prohibited." She had _that_ smile on her face and I felt a shiver go down my back a I looked at her. "If you do it again, your punishment will be..."

I physically gulped when Perrine jumped back, turning an even paler white than when I was yelling at her while Yoshika kind of seemed indifferent. "One week of toilet cleaning. Your answer?"

"Yes, ma'am." We all responded.

"Very well. Then, dismissed." Perrine left in quite a hurry when Minna finally turned and left while I changed into my clothing.

"Hey, Ember..."

"Hm?" I pulled my olive green panties on and looked at her.

"Thanks for earlier."

"Hey, don't mention it. I did it not only because I was asked to look after you by the commander. But I also did it as a friend." We continued to dress in silence when Yoshika spoke up again.

"When you said you were close to death and was paid by death and destruction... What did you mean?"

"..." I staid silent as I buttoned up my uniform.

"I-It's all right if you don't want to tell me! I understand..."

"No! No, it's all right. If you want to hear, lets go to my room, 'kay?"

"Mm!" She nodded and we both walked down into my room. With her plopping down on my bed, I took the chair from the rooms desk and started to tell the story from my time with the 370th to when I woke up at the 501st base. When I finished, Yoshika had drifted off to sleep and I smiled. Picking her up, I carried her to her room and tucked her in when I noticed a written letter on her bed stand addressed to her mother and grandmother. Patting her head lightly, I left and drifted off to sleep in my own room.

* * *

It's the next day and I was all ready with Shirley, tinkering away at our own Strikers while Mio briefed todays training group.

"Today, we will be doing formation flight training. My wingman will be Lynne."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Barkhorn's wingman will be Miyafuji! ... Miyafuji, where's your response?"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

Wingmen, all you need to do is follow your leader. Don't look at anything else. If she changes direction, you do the same. If she tells you to fire, you fire."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"The leader always has her eyes on the enemy and gives precise orders to her wingman so don't worry, just follow." They all jumped into their own Strikers, equipping their weapons, before taking off into the sky. Closing up the hatch on my Striker, I took a rag to wipe off the grease when my sister came in.

"Ember! I'm bored! I want to fight some-"

"No!" I cut her off. "Don't say that word! You remember what happened last time you said that right?" She nodded her head when I glanced over at Shirley, who was currently half way putting back together one of her Strikers. "You could watch Shirley work maybe?"

"Better than nothing..." She went over to watch her work, while I checked my ammo supply when the air raid siren went off with a few fire works exploding. Perrine and Minna ran into the room as Shirley cursed, trying to put the pieces back together.

"Blaze!"

"Got it!" She jumped into her Striker just as I did. Slinging around my extra ammo box, the four of took off joining Mio's training group.

"Enemy's coming in from the East grid, sector 07, altitude 15,000!"

"This isn't like them Mio!" I called out to her.

"I know. Their attack cycle has been quite erratic recently."

"I heard there was some activity in Karlsland, but I don't know the details."

"Karlsland..."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing..."

"All right, we're changing formation. Perrine will be Barkhorn's wingman! Miyafuji will follow my lead!" We flew off, flying in pairs of two with my sister off to my right. I tightened my grip, and loosened my it as we got closer to the enemy when Mio lifted her eye patch.

"Enemy sighted!"

"Barkhorn's unit, move in!"

"Major, cover me!"

"Roger! Come with me Miyafuji." From what I could see, it was a weird designed Neuroi with three rotating arms and a rocket shaped center body.

"Come on Blaze!" Rolling over, the two of us dove in on the target, peppering it with hot lead before passing under it. Pulling up at a steep angle, we shot up again before pulling a high yo-yo to match speed peppering it some before backing off. A .55 caliber bullet slammed right into the Neuroi when it retaliated with a burst of lasers. Rolling off to the side, I pulled up a shield when I heard Mio through the intercom.

"_You're to close Barkhorn!"_ Glancing over, I saw Trude fly up out of the way while Perrine pulled up a shield to block the shot. The force from it pushed her backwards into Trude giving the Neuroi time for a single shot. She didn't have enough to time pull up a shield and a laser carved through the magazine of her MG 42, detonating the ammo, injuring her.

"Lieutenant!"

"Barkhorn!"

"Trude! Blaze, stay top cover with Minna and Mio!" Slinging around gun, I dove after Trude, throttle completely open. I felt my Striker's wing shake from the strain of the dive, but I didn't let up. Down I went, speed increasing until I reached out and caught her. Slowing down to a hover, Yoshika and Perrine came down as well.

"Lay her down gently Ember!" Doing as Yoshika asked, I laid her down in the grass before stepping back as she ripped her shirt open.

"It's all my fault! What should I do!?"

"She's bleeding. We can't move her or it'll get worse. I have to heal her here."

"Please! Save the Lieutenant!"

"Don't panic. Nice and easy now..." I stood guard when I looked over at Perrine.

"You should get back up into the fight.

"But-"

"You're of much greater use if you're up in the air fighting the Neuroi. Now go!"

"Yes, ma'am!" She took off instantly while I looked up to see the Neuroi had righted itself. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a light blue glow surround both Yoshika and Trude.

'_So that's her healing magic? Amazing...'_ Snapping out of my thoughts, I pulled up a shield, blocking the shots directed at Yoshika.

"I'll heal your wounds now."

"If you stick around me, you'll all be in danger. Get away from me. Forget about me, and use that power on the enemy."

"No! I will save you! We're comrades aren't we!?"

"Defeat the enemy! My life deserves to be sacrificed..."

"You know what Trude? Don't give me that type of shit!"

"Ember?"

"I've been where you are right now Trude. Thinking that my death will be right! But think about this: What will happen to Chris if you die!? How do you think she will react when she finds out you have died!"

"I... I..." I slid back slightly as more and more lasers peppered my shield when some cracks started to form around the edges. Looking up, I saw a large ball of energy start to form in the center of the Neuroi as the three rotating arms fed energy into it.

"Live for your sisters sake!" I yelled as my shield made contact with the large concentrated beam. For a split second, I thought I saw my shield turned from blue to red, but I couldn't tell if it was because of the laser beam as it deflected into the ground, causing a slight explosion, enough to throw me backwards just as Yoshika passed out. Sitting upright with a slight pain, I look to see Tude getting up, grabbing Yoshika's rifle. I tried to start my engines but they just stuttered. Cursing under my breath, I puled the empty ammo box from it's holding device and fed a new belt into it. "Hey Trude!" She looked towards my direction before I threw her my M2 from a crawling position. "My Striker's not starting up so make good use of it!"

She caught it single handedly and expertly slung the strap over her shoulder, grabbing the pistol grip, finger on the trigger, with one hand.

"Thanks, Ember." She looked upwards towards the Neuroi just as the core was exposed, zooming past Minna and Mio before unleashing hell on the core. The Neuroi exploded into the white fragments just as I got my own Striker fired up again. The Allison's revving up before I got into a hover against the ground. Helping Yoshika up, I looked up to see Minna slap Trude.

"_What do you think you're doing!? If we lose you, what are we supposed to do!? You may have lost your homeland and everything else, but we're a team! No... A family! Everyone in this squadron is!"_

"You good enough to fly?'

"Yeah..." Yoshika seemed quite tired and I guess she must have spent a large portion of her magic in healing.

"_I'm sure your sister, Chris, will get better."_ Looking up again, Minna had brought Trude into an embrace.

"_So, for your sister's sake, and for your new friends' sake, don't rush to your death! we Witches are the only ones who can protect everyone."_

"Sorry. We're family, aren't we? ... Can I... Can I take a vacation? I want to visit her."

'_My god... Five words that I thought I would never hear from Trude's mouth... But, she deserves every single one of them'_ I thought before I got swarmed by my sister.

"Eeeeemmmbbbeeeeerrrrr!" She charged head first into a hug. "Don't do that again!"

"Don't worry Blaze. I'm not going to leave you alone; not for a second!"

"So, you've finally decided to do it?" Mio asked Trude.

"Yeah..."

"Everyone, return to base!" Flying up next to Trude, I nudged her in the side.

"So, how was it?" I nodded my head towards my gun.

"A bit big... Lower fire rate... Though damn big bullets... I'll stick with my 42's thank you very much!" She tossed my gun back and we landed back at base. Trude went with Mio and Minna to do the paper work for her leave while both Yoshika and Lynne were hanging out at the entrance tot he hanger.

"Oh come on Ember! I missed all the action!" Shirley protested.

"You would have been put on standby anyways Shirley. Also, you shouldn't have taken so long pulling your Striker apart Shirley."

"But, I like to do a thorough job with each part!"

"I do that to... Just only on select parts!"

"But what if a screw was worn and it came lose during flight! Then what!?"

"Like that's going to happen... Check them a few times every two weeks I say." Looking at a few crates near where the hanger connects to the base, I could see a tuft of blond hair. "You should just go talk to her Perrine."

"B-But-"

"I know what you wanted to say to her so just go and do it!"

"F-Fine..." She pouted slightly before walking over to Yoshika.

"Such a funny girl eh Shirley?"

"She can be at times." Making sure everything's a-okay, I left to take a shower and hit the hay. Today took a lot out of me but I'm happy that Yoshika's relationship between Trude might have improved some.

* * *

**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	4. Chapter 4

_**Ember's POV:**_

It was the next day already and Trude's car had only just arrived. Watching her off, I noted how much more relaxed Trude seemed.

"Hey, Ember," I turned to look at Minna, "I've got a message for you. Package arrive, ETA two hours."

"Package arrival... Wait, you don't mean..." She only nodded. "Looks like Christmas has come early for me." With the car long gone, everyone that went to say bye to Trude had dissipated into their daily routine. Yoshika and Lynne were going around cleaning the base, Erica sleeping, Mio, getting ready for the days training routine, and so on and so forth. I, on the other hand, was trying to find anything to do to kill time, and I ended up just going back to my usual spot under a tree to nap. I only woke up because my ears picked up the soft drone of the twin Radial engines of the C-47. Stretching, I made my way to the runway, using my magic to assist slightly when I spotted a familiar Witch taxiing on the runway.

"Seris! Long time, no see!"

"Ember! It seems like Command likes to send me to some of my old Training buddies! Last stop I had, I got to see Lilith!"

"You got to see Little Lily? How is she doing?"

"Great! She says that the Neuroi raids have been quite sporadic, but she's holding up. Anyway! You're going to love the new toys you'll be receiving."

"Do tell."

"Obviously, you're getting that new Striker I told you all so very long ago, but you're arsenal is getting upgraded. With the help of a Karlsland's design team, Browning Arms Company has modified your M2 Heavy Machine gun so that it can be shoulder fired and it's now magazine fed instead of belt fed configuration. I'll let you read up on that and obviously we've got a replacement ammo backpack and light weight sling for the new magazines." The C-47 touched down in front of us and came to a complete stop. Unloading multiple crates, Seris waved good bye at me. "I'm sorry that I don't have much time to chat but... We're on a very tight schedule."

"If you see any of our Training mates, tell them Ember says hi." I waved as she took to the skies before unpacking all the crates with Shirley's aid. Sure enough, I found the gun Seris was talking about and my god, I would have given up my M2 in a split second if I knew this thing was out there. Reading up on the notes that came with the package, I found out that this was a joint Liberion and Karlsandian project naming it the M2.5 Neuroi Reaper. They've shortened the barrel of the gun and machined out specific spacific parts out of aluminum to reduce the weight. They also added a roller system to the bolt system upping the RPM to 850 rounds per minute. They've even shortened the bullet slightly but made everything up with a much faster burning gun power the Karlsander's offered. It worked so well, that even with everything changed, it had better ballistic properties than the old gun. Looking at the gun itself, I could see it still had the box frame around the firing mechanism while a butt stock and trigger mechanism was pointing out the back and the longish barrel pointing out the other. Looking at the top of the gun, the feeding tray was no longer visible and the upper receiver looked more connected to the gun itself. On the top, there was a latch and slot for the beta-mags to lock in place and feed ammunition to the gun itself. Tapping the magazine, I was happy to get a thick clunking noise instead of a high pitched tink showing it was tiny. Lifting up the gun, I noted it did feel quite a bit lighter but also feels nice and balanced. Sticking a magazine in place, I looked down the sites before nodding happily.

"Ember! You're killing me here! Show me the Striker all ready!" Looking up quite startled, I saw Shirley in the hanger, balled up hands bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"When did you get here?"

"After the C-47 leave. Nice toy by the way."

"Thanks... As for the Striker..." I looked towards the largest crate out of them all and walked up to it, pulling off the cover and what I saw inside took my breath away. It was a rather large Striker Unit, much larger than my current one and it was painted with a black base and a red flame patter on the sides. Looking at the wings, they were pained a dark grey with the familiar black and white stripes on both of them, but one thing I noted was that they were swept back.

"My god... Ember, why do you get so many cool looking toys?" Shirley whined.

"What? You don't like your Merlins anymore?" She stiffened up and started to shake her hands side to side.

"Nononononono! I still love them my Merlins! It just can't help be a bit jelly about how you get to have this cool little toy... Though I wonder, what's under the hood?" Taking the two Striker's, I leaned them against my Launcher Unit before pulling off my own P-38's and replaced them with my new toy.

"You can look at them but don't fiddle with anything!" She nodded eagerly and skipped over to the Striker, opening up the maintenance hatch and engine compartment. Grabbing the documents that came with everything, I flipped to the Striker side of the Documents.

'_So... This the P-38-N Firebird... Not a Lightning? Still, a fitting name... Swept back wings to get better air flow and stronger wings to go faster... Engine... Merlins? Hell yes!'_ I grinned and looked up at Shirley, seeing that she all ready had a pouting face on.

'You got Merlin engines as well!?"

"Yep! And larger Merlins as well to compensate for the larger magic reserves as well! But damn, Lockheed sure outdid themselves this time!" Reading further my eyes bulged slightly. "My god..."

"What?"

"It's says here that it can go up to Mach 1.3..." Looking up again, I saw that her blue eyes seemed to dim slightly.

"My dream was to be able to go past Mach 1..." A small tear was brimming her eyes and understood.

"Heeyy, don't worry! I won't take that dream away from a friend of mine! I promise I won't go past the sound barrier... Unless it's a dire situation and a Witch's live is in danger."

"Thank you Ember! You don't know how much that means to me! I will someday break the sound barrier!" Her ocean blue eyes seemed to brighten up again and I went to unload the rest of my gear before inspecting it all. The ammo sling was shaped differently... Or if you would call it a sling. It was more like an ammo pouch that holds two beta magazines that is strapped to the body with two different buckled straps. The backpack on the other hand was completely different. Slightly smaller, they had slots that could hold the four mags and they lock in during flight. Tinkering around with the mechanism, I got the hang of releasing the magazine from the holder and letting it slide down into my hand before replacing it with the empty one. Next, I found the speed loader for the magazines and I started to fill all the magazines I have before stowing everything away. With everything set in order, both Shirley and I went down for breakfast. Both Yoshika and Lynne cooked breakfast. Later that day, we hooked up a bunch of telemetry devices onto my Striker before I jumped into it, with a full combat load. I started to feed magic into my Striker and the twin Merlin engines roared to life.

"Hey Shirley, tell me when I hit 790 kmh all right?"

"Got it!" She gave a thumbs up at me as I got into a hover.

"This is Ember, taking off!" Tilting forward, I gunned the engines, getting a quicker response than I was used to. Getting enough speed, I pulled straight upwards, ascending to about 1000 meters, pacing the engines accordingly.

"_56 seconds to get to 1000 meters!" _Shirley called out. _"... You're taking it easy aren't you Ember?"_

"Just pacing the engines Shirley, not going to do anything special." Pulling around, I started to descend to about 300 meters before gunning the engines to see my acceleration.

"_All right! You hit 790!"_ Shirley said seconds later and I stopped my acceleration. Everything about the Striker felt phenomenal in all categories. Touching down, I docked and started to work on my Striker with Shirley's aid with the Merlins. A day later, Trude came back from her little vacation to her sister with a small smile, but a refreshed aura to her as well. Though ever since my little demonstration of my new Striker, Shirley's been asking me to help tune up and modify her Striker. Today, she's been going at it ever since this morning.

"What about this setting for magic allocation?" I suggested.

"Tried that last time. Only got a 4 km/h boost in my max speed... What if I..." A small backfire was the result of her little tinker. "Nope! I meant this!" Watching her, I watcher her fingers work their magic when both Lynne and Yoshika came running in.

"Shirley!"

"Huh? Yo! What's up, you two?" She gave a wave to them.

"Um... What exactly was that sound?"

"That, was an accidental backfire..." I explained.

"Huh?"

"Go on Shirley, try out the mods."

"Check this out." She stood up slightly and had the Launcher unit secured her Striker legs in place before letting her magic flow into the Striker Unit. The Merlins roared to life as a magical circle appeared underneath her. The engine noise was like a symphony playing their song. Checking on her engines readings, I gave a thumbs up to Shirley.

"Doing great!" She returned it as well, mumbling something that I couldn't hear over the roar of the engines when I noticed Yoshika waving her arms.

"Oh, what are you saying?"

"Shirley! The Noise!" Lynne started to wobble side to side and I knew that wasn't good. Drawing my hand over my neck at Shirley, she cut the engines as Lynne fell over. "PLEASE BE QUIET!" I cringed, fingers in my ears as Yoshika yelled at us.

"Your voice is to loud."

"You said it..."

"Huh? Oh... I'm sorry... Though... What are you two doing here? I mean, doing in this hanger with all this noise?"

"Jeez! Can you keep it down!" All eyes went upward towards the sleepy voice of Lucchini.

"Oh! Lucchini!" There she was, sleeping soundly with all the engines noise in the background and only Yoshika's shouting woke her up.

"I swear... You choose the weirdest locations to sleep Francesca..."

"And here I was so soundly asleep... Yoshika! Your shouting woke me up!" She jumped down from the beam up on the roof and landed down gracefully on the ground... How she got up there, I have no idea.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Though Lucchini, doesn't all that noise bother you?"

"Nah, it happens all the time!"

"Second question... How the hell did you get up there in the first place?"

"I climbed." She had a bright smile on and I just leaned forward with a blank stare.

"You just... Climbed...?"

"Yeah! It's really easy for me!" And sure enough, she ran up and started to climb her way up onto the beam where her blanket was.

"... Might I ask why you learned to climb?"

"Because it's fun and..." She looked up with her eyes closed as if to think up more ideas.

"And...?"

"And it gives me an advantage over people!" She looked down at me with a bright smile while I looked at her confused.

"Advantage over people- EEP!" She leapt from the girder again, this time, jumping onto my back, hands reached around with a firm grasp on my chest.

"My, my, did you grow Ember?" My face had turned tomato red and I couldn't move from my spot. "Still not as good a Shirley's..." She pouted as she jumped off. I, myself, used my arms to cover my chest and glared at the little boob devil.

"So Shirley, you're always making such thunderous noise?" Yoshika asked, looking towards where Shirley used to be.

"I just modified the Striker Engines."

"Modified the engine... What do you mean?"

"Come here, I'll show you." She turned around and started to walk outside with her Striker on. Lucchini ran over to grab a telemetry device from the shelf and ran outside again.

"Um, what's the modifications?"

"I adjusted the energy allocations of the magic engine."

"By allocation, you mean you changed the amount of energy used for attacking and defending?"

"Gold star to you Ms. Bishop."

"You got it."

"Though, what did you enhance?" Lynne yelled at Shirley as she started her Striker.

"Speed, of course!"

"Shirley!" Lucchini raised her hand ready for the signal.

"Right!" She put on her goggles as she got up into a hover.

"Go!" Lowering her hand forward, Shirley took off quickly. "Go, Shirley!"

"Wow, such acceleration!"

"You haven't seen anything yet!" She continued down the runway until she pulled up into a steep climb, going completely vertical. Looking over Lucchini's shoulder, I could see multiple rollers with numbers with speed in km/h and altitude in meters. "Wow! 50 seconds and she's all ready at 1000 meters up!"

"Rivaling my own Striker's ascension rate." A white contrail was behind her as she flew past us.

"Wow, she's still accelerating!"

"770 kilometer per hour! 780! 785! 790!"

"Come on Shirley, faster!"

"Amazing!"

"She broke 800 kilometers! It's a new record!" She zoomed by, a few feet in front of us when Lucchini started to whine. "Boo! She's not accelerating anymore..."

"I guess conventional strikers aren't there yet..." I said under my breath. Looking up, Shirley had slowed down and we started to run up the runway.

"Shirley! You set a new record!"

"It was amazing!"

"That was awesome!"

"Oh, all right!" She then presumed to tackle us to the ground. Lucchini fell on top of me, Lynne off to the side, and Yoshika on top of Shirley. "Aaahhh, I'm so hungry!"

"I'm quite hungry as well..." Looking up towards the sun's direction, I could see that it was setting quite low. Getting up, I went into the kitchen and fetched a few sandwiches for the group of us in the hanger before returning, devouring one on the way back. With the sun setting, the sky turning a orangish color, Shirley worked on her Striker under a single light. Yoshika and Lynne on the other hand were looking a scrap book.

"What is this Shirley?"

"'New record achieved by Glamorous Shirley.'" Lynne read out and I looked over their shoulders to see multiple pictures of Shirley in them.

"Bike records?"

"Shirley says she used to be a bike record before becoming a pilot!" Lucchini explained.

"Oh yeah! I remember seeing some newspaper clippings of your achievements before!"

"You ever heard of the Bonneville Flats Yoshika?"

"Bonne?"

"It's a flat made of salt as far as the eye can see right in the middle of Liberion."

"I didn't know there was such a place." Lynne added.

"I've always wanted to go to the flats myself." I said with a sigh. "All those engines that set world speed records there... Oh, I wanted to see them all!"

"A mechanic at heart eh Ember? Yeah, it's amazing what machinery has been there, but it was also the holy land for us speed freaks." She closed her eyes as if she was remembering something. "The day I broke the record, that was when I heard the stories about Witches who fly through the sky at world's fastest speed with magical engines. I all ready kind of knew about there existence with Ms. Fire Maiden over here fighting the Neuroi."

"You even have a name for yourself Ember?" Yoshika asked, quirking her head off to the side.

"Well... It's just a title a reporter gave me. Nothing much but for a good poster name."

"But, it's still nice to have a person around to raise the Witch's and civilians moral Though on that day, I applied and enlisted in the military. And so, here I am now, doing this."

"So on your off-duty days, you attempt to break the limits of your speed."

"The top speed. Amazing! But how far will you have to go until you're satisfied?"

"Well lets see... The speed of sound. I'd like to exceed Mach 1 someday... Before a certain red head breaks it..." She gave me a soft glare and I held my hands up.

"I won't! I swear!"

"Uumm... What's the speed of sound?"

"That? It's the speed that sound travels. It's about 1200 kilometers per hour."

"Is it really possible to put out such a speed?"

"Well... Kind of..."

"What Shirley is saying is that only specialized Witches, like myself, that has a larger than usual magic supply can really go past the sound barrier. I'm only one of a very limited amount of people that has that potential and my Striker is said to go about Mach 1.3. Plus, it's a custom built one to outperform any mass produced one and this version can't really sustain a regular Witch through long patrols and battles."

"Then why haven't you gone that fast Ember?"

"What? You think I would ever take that achievement away from Shirley here! It's her own challenge and it won't be fare since I've got a special Striker. I want the first person to break the sound barrier to be a normal Witch like Shirley."

"And I will break the sound barrier. I just need to keep chasing that dream, and it will happen sooner or later." She winked at Yoshika as she stood up. "Well, that's all for today." She hung her goggles up on her Striker and I got up as well, stretching slightly. "By the way, did you two want something?"

"Huh?" Lynne and Yoshika looked at each other.

'_Tick... Tick... Tick... DING!'_

"WAH! We forgot all about it!" I chuckled slightly and the four of us started to walk out.

"We're meeting at 1000 hours tomorrow morning!"

"I can't wait!"

"The beach... Been a while since I've been to one... Last time was when I was back home..."

"Wow, that long Ember?... Though what do you mean by that Shirley?" She skipped and turned around.

"To see you two in swimsuits!"

"Waahh!" I gave off a laugh before Shirley spun around with a giggle and took off. "SHIRLEY!"

I looked back to see Lucchini was sleeping on the Launcher Unit. Not bothering to wake her up, I went back to the kitchen to deposit the large plate I carried the sandwiches. Walking back to my room, with my hands behind my head, I went in to finish up the documents for my new equipment when it hit me.

"WAAH! Blazette and I don't have a swim suit!"

"Why would you need a swim suit Ember?" I looked up at my sister, who was currently reading a book in her bed.

"Weren't you at the meeting today?"

"Oh yeah... Tomorrow..."

"I'm going to ask Minna if she has any spares..." I looked down. "If they fit..." Slipping out of the room, went to Minna's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Hey, Minna, I've got a little problem..."

"No swim suit?" She rummaged under her desk before pulling up a brown bag. "Problem solved."

"How did you-"

"It occurred to me today that you two didn't have a bathing suit for tomorrow so I ordered two to be delivered. I've got an olive green two piece for you along with a grey one piece for you sister. I could go only on your last years measurements so I hope they fit."

"Hey, I don't think the two of us grew much. Thanks Minna!" Taking the bag and went to my room and tried it on, finding it fit quite nicely... Though a little tight around the chest area. Blaze also slipped in her own as well before we both got ready for bed.

* * *

Waking up the next day, I woke Blaze up and we both went down to the kitchen and got breakfast. The other Witches were walking about what they were going to wear. Finishing up breakfast, we all went our ways to get dressed and both Blaze and I got into our suits. Getting to the meeting room, both Blaze and I were the first to get done. Shirley and Lucchini with Shirley in a red bathing suit that fit tightly with her curves while Lucchini... Well, it looked nice on her at least.

"Lookin' good you two!" Shirley gave a thumbs up before she sat down with Blaze and and Erica soon came in with matching black swim suits and followed up with Mio and Perrine with Mio in the bathing suit she wears under her uniform and Perrine in a blue two piece. Sanya and Eila then came in with Sanya in a black two piece and Eila in a blue bottom piece and a white upper. Lastly, Minna, Lynne, and Yoshika came in with Minna in a white two piece, Lynne in a pink one piece with some white frillies around her chest, and Yoshika following Mio's choice with is using the swim suit underneath her uniform.

"Now that everyone is here, lets go down the beach!" Minna announced.

"Oh, and both Trude and Ember follow me for a second." Mio asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Everyone filled out of the door and with my own instructions of following Mio, we went to the back of the hanger into a little door for the storage room.

"What do we need from here?"

"See those two dummy Strikers?" She pointed at a A6M3 Striker unit and a Spitfire Mk IX which was completely made of metal. Lifting one up, they felt about the same weight as a regular Striker. "Pick them up and follow me with them."

"Ooohhh, swimming training if they fall in... God, I hated that... Welp! Off we go!" Marching out with a Striker leg under each arm, we followed Mio out to a point where Minna was too waiting.

"You can just drop them here. Now go along and have fun." Minna shoed as away. Taking a running start, I jumped off the edge, pulled a summersault, and straightened out before entering the water with very little splash. Surfacing, I looked off into the distance to see Trude powering along in the water with Erica doggy paddling behind her. Both Shirley and Lucchini jumped back into the water while Eila and Sanya were sitting on the beach. Swimming around, I found Blaze, floating on her back in the water. Swimming up beside her, I turned over and floated on my back as well.

"Enjoying your time here?" I asked her.

"Defiantly. The last time we were at the beach was when Dad and the whole family went out for a beach vacation when he was coming to visit... It's such a long time ago..."

"Yeah..." Glancing over at the side, I could see both Sanya and Yoshika were all ready in the two Strikers. "Looks like Yoshika and Lynne are going to jump now."

"Hm?" She turned her head to the side before looking back up. "Oh... Well, good luck to them... At least they don't have a Striker like mine. The P-61's heavy!"

"But you passed..." We stayed this way for some time when Minna called out it was break time. Getting out of the water, I watched at both Lynne and Yoshika collapsed into the sand.

"Ah, you'll get used to it." Shirley then appeared from the water as well and I walked down towards them.

"She does that with the rest of us to motivate us."

"Besides, sleeping like this isn't bad, either." Laying down in the sand as well next to the three, I let out a sigh and embraced the warm feeling of the sun rays against my skin.

"The sun's nice and warm."

"Yeah, it feels nice."

"Doesn't it?"

"Been for ever since I was like this..." Relaxation was the only word I could think of as we laid there when I felt a little sensation in the back of my head.

"Huh?" Yoshika sat up and was looking at the sun. I felt that same feeling again when I looked up as well.

"What's the matter?"

"Just now, something flew across the sun." Shirley now even got up and looked.

"Something..." She squinted when the feeling came in full force.

'_Neuroi!'_

"It's the enemy!"

"Neuroi!" Getting up from where we were sitting, both Shirley and I started to sprint towards the hanger. "Shirley!" The air raid siren went off.

'_Damn she's fast!'_ I had to activate my magic just to keep up with her as she vaulted over the concrete barrier. Jumping over it, we both ran off towards the hanger and jumped into our Strikers. The hanger door opened up just as I charged my new gun, a large magical circle under both of our units.

"Yeager. Taking off!"

"Vermillion. Taking off!" Both of our Merlin engines roared to life as we fed power into them, and soon we were taking off towards the enemy.

"Shirley! Ember!" Both Yoshika and Lynne were in our way and we had to roll around them. Correcting, we both took off towards the sky.

"_Shirley! Ember! Can you hear me?"_ I could hear Minna's voice through the intercom.

"Commander!"

"_There's one enemy craft, an ultra-high-speed model. It's all ready moved inland."_

"What's the course?"

"_It's heading... West-Northwest from here. It's target, judging from this course is... London!"_

"_Single Units take the lead! Show them your speed you two!"_

"Roger that!" Gunning the engines yet again, we both took off after the enemy. We both kept on going as I tried to catch up with Shirley though something seemed a bit different from before.

"Shirley! Something seem off to you?" She seemed like in a trance like state when she spread her arms out.

"This feeling... It's the same..."

"Same as what... Also didn't we just past the 800 km/h speed limit of your Striker? We're both still accelerating!"

"It's the same... Like that time!"

"_Return immediately, Lieutenant!"_ Mio yelled into our intercoms.

"Hey Ember!"

"Yeah?"

"Ready to break the sound barrier?"

"You think you can do it?"

"Just watch me! Let go!" A large magical circle appeared behind her Striker and took off like a rocket.

"Hehe, let do this!" I caught up to her as we started to shake as we kept on accelerating, a cone in front of us when a large vapor cone formed around Shirley followed up by a loud bang. A few seconds later, I too had a large vapor cone around me that was followed by a large bang.

"Is this... Is this the world of Super sonic flight?"

"This is... This is absolutely amazing..."

"Wow, this is awesome! I did it! I finally did it!"

"_Can you hear me Lieutenant!? Answer me!"_

"Major! I did it! I broke the speed of sound!

"_Emergency stop! You're about to crash into the enemy!" _

"Crash into the enemy...?" I looked up as a large black body of a Neuroi was getting closer. "ShitshitshitshitSHITSHITSHIT!" I flared up while Shirley just continued on through with a shield extended and smashed right through the enemy. In through one side she went before out the other before the Neuroi was destroyed. "Well... That's one way of destroying a Neuroi. Uh... Mission complete... Neuroi destroyed. Shirley got this one heehee."

"_What about Shirley?"_

"Um..." I looked around to see she was climbing up high. "I got a visual. She's doing fine... I think..." Turning around, I could see both Yoshika and Lynne finally arriving when I noticed Shirley was decelerating. "Uh oh..." Rushing up, I caught her just as she reached the apex of her climb. Her swimsuit was burning off and her Striker stopped working as I caught her and they fell off. "Yoshika! Lynne! Catch the Striker Unit!"

"Huh?" They looked at me with some confusion when the two Striker legs fell past them "WAH!" They both dove after them and caught it before they were destroyed on impact.

"I got her Minna." I looked down at her and she had a smile on as she slept. "She's unconscious but she seems fine."

"_That's a relief."_

"Any idea to why one day her Striker could only do 800 plus and now they can go supersonic?"

"_A little Romagian was involved in it"_

"Oy vey... All right, lets get back to base girls."

"Yes!" On the way back to base, Shirley woke up and looked up at me.

"Huh? Where am I? What happened? What about the Neuroi?"

"Calm down will you. The Neuroi was destroyed, which you crashed into, and now we're returning back to base... Also Yoshika's been giving you some stares while we are flying back since your bathing suit was burned off."

"Huh!? N-N-No I wasn't!" She looked away, a shade of read that is putting my hair color to shame. "I wasn't staring at those large... Soft... Volumptious chest..." She had a dreamy face on for a split second before shipping her face back and to reality. "I-I-I MEAN NOTHING! N-N-NOTHING AT ALL!"

'_Oh such a weird girl.'_ We continued back in silence before we landed. The rest of the Witches were gathered, Lucchini had a bright red spot on her head, and Shirley let out a sneeze. Getting back into regular clothing, we celebrated Shirley's achievement and even some alcohol was broken out. A blush on my face as I raised up my glass, I cheered:

"Congratulations to Glamorous Shirley for breaking the Sound Barrier!"

"To Shirley!" Everyone cheered, raising their own glasses when I downed the rest of my drink. Mio was all ready wobbling back and forth after her first drink and I myself just finished my fourth glass.

"Saaayyy Ember," Shirley draped an arm over my shoulder, just as drunk as I was, "I just want to say, thanks fer keeping yur promise of being the second Witch to go the speed erf sound."

"Ner problema Char." Saying our good nights, I ventured back to my room, stumbling all the way back, and with my sisters help. Falling heavily into my bed, I fell asleep right away.

* * *

**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	5. Chapter 5

_**Ember's POV:**_

The next day, I woke up with possibly the worst headache of my life. The hangover from last nights partying was defiantly something that I wasn't looked forward to when I woke up. Blaze, on the other hand, was just waking up as well. I tried to get up from my bed, but the pounding pain in my head caused me to just fall out instead. With a thud, I even woke up my sister.

"This sucks..."

"You all right there sis?"

"Yeah, yeah... Just need to make it to the showers." I had a feeling that if I felt this bad, the others must be feeling awful as well. Walking/Crawling to the showers I stripped down and got the cold water moving. "Fuck my life..." Standing up, I stepped into the freezing cold water and my eyes went wide as soon as the first drop made contact with my skin. A minute passed before I got out again, feeling MUCH better than before, and sober enough to do daily work, I went down to the kitchen for some breakfast. Upon entering, I could see that Minna, Trude, Mio, and Shirley completely out of it. Both Minna and Mio were keeping up appearance to a certain degree, but you could see that they were hurtin' on the inside.

"Morning to you all."

"Not so loud Ember..." Shirley whined, rubbing her temples.

"How the hell are you- ow... That sober Ember." Trude moaned out and I just sighed.

"You four. Come with me now." The four groaned in reply as they got up like zombies from before following me to the bathing area. "Oh and Mio, sword please."

"Why do you need that."

"For my own safety." She gave me a hard glare before flinching somewhat from the pain. Reluctantly handing it over, I had them all strip and step into the cold shower. Some more defiant than other to get in. Trude went in like a true soldier while both Mio and Minna tentatively got in, shooting glares at me the whole time. Shirley on the other hand had to be persuaded/had Trude hold her still in the shower as well. Minutes went by before the four stepped and dried off.

"I hate you Ember." Shirley was glaring a hole right through me.

"Stop it Charlotte!" I groaned. "I feel like I will combust if you glared at me any harder."

"Horrible... Murderous... Cold..." Minna twitched slightly. "But effective... Where'd you learn this trick after a hang over?"

"An old trick Helma told me about/used after my 75th kill party... Hated it at first but was glad since we received a scramble order to help out another Squadron in the area."

"Good thing as well because I just now remembered that Mio and I are summoned for a meeting about the 501st in London in two days. Our plane should be arriving later this day and we will be arriving back to base around night time... I think Yoshika should tag along with us as well. It would be nice for her to see London."

"I agree." Nothing eventful happened that day since the little sobering up experience. Mio went off to pack a small day bag while also ordering Yoshika to do the same. I on the other hand started a little work out season around the base consisting a jog around the base, and multiple different fitness exercises to get myself back into shape. Finishing up with a jog, I saw what looked like a Ju-52/3m off in the distance and both Minna, Yoshika, and Mio were waiting, with a small carry on item.

"Stay safe up there... And Yoshika, please don't get lost in London..."

"I won't!... Well, I'll try not to..." Petting her head with a slight chuckle, the three of them got onto the transport plane. With its' engines firing up again, it took off down the runway and into the sky.

* * *

_**Blazette's POV:**_

I listened to the soft hum of my Double-Wasp engines as I flew through the sky. The moon lighting the sky in a dark blue hue. Alone... I was alone every flight. It's been that way since I joined as a Night Fighter Witch. Each night, I go up, it's always the same: A small greeting with Sanya, a discussion of our routs, and then we're both off. I see her sometimes when our patrol paths intersect one another but it was rare. The only thing keeping me company was my Striker, weapon, and the occasional singing by Sanya. Today, a storm had formed at sea level and it was only separated me by a thick white clouds and it was also the day that Yoshika, Mio, and Minna were to return. Picking up the transport planes radio signals, I also picked up Sanya's singling. Banking around I flew off towards the plane. In the distance, I could see Sanya had all ready met up with the transport plane, flying on the right side. Flying high and dropping down slowly, I formed up on the left wing. Looking through the window, I could see both Minna and Yoshika looking out the window.

"_Nice to have you back Commander."_ I talked to her through my magical power and Yoshika seemed to jump slightly before looking around. _"Ah, I must have forgot to mention my power to you... I can broadcast my own thoughts to people in a close proximity."_ She nodded slightly when Sanya dove down into the clouds.

'_So shy...'_ I thought when I looked up, surprised that Sanya stopped singing.

"_What is it, Sanya?"_

"_Someone is looking this way."_

"_Report more clearly, and in a louder voice, too."_

"_Sorry. An aircraft of an unknown affiliation is approaching from the direction of Sirius."_

"I can detect something as well Mio. Same direction. Want me to investigate?"

"_Be careful Blaze. Its speed is not that of a normal aircraft."_

"_And I can't see it..."_

"_It's inside the clouds."_ Rolling over the aircraft, I joined up on Sanya's wing. _"The target cannot be identified with the naked eye."_

"_So that's how it is."_ Silence filled the radio as I pulled my 1919 around, charging the gun for combat and using my powers to pinpoint the location of the Neuroi.

"_Target is still approaching at high speed. Three minutes until contact."_

"Mio, can we engage?"

"_Sanya, Blaze, just buy us some time until backup arrives. Don't do anything to rash all right?"_

"Yes ma'am." Flicking off the safeties of our weapons, I pulled high as Sanya got into firing position.

"It's fast... I'll swoop in after your rockets to strafe him."

"Got it Blaze." We hovered motionlessly, acquiring the target when Sanya flipped out firing off two rockets. Watching their trajectory and where I sensed the Neuroi, I dove down after the rockets. Two large orange spheres expanded where the warheads hit and I let off a salvo of tracer fire off. I watched it arc across the night sky before pelting the cloud cover missing the target. Pulling up again, Sanya let off another rocket.

"_It's not firing back..."_ She voiced both of our concerns before another rocket launched and I followed in once again, shooting and missing. More orange spheres filled the sky as I clawed for altitude when Mio called us back.

"_Sanya, Blaze, that's enough. Return now."_

"But, it's not..."

"_Thank you. You two protected us three."_

"Come on Sanya," She was breathing quite hard I noted, that I was too. "Lets return to the transport plane." We both looked off towards the direction of where the Neuroi was before we flew back into formation with the plane. Seeing a break in the clouds, the plane started it's descent. Breaking through, I could see, Eila, Trude, Erica, Perrine, and my sis flying towards us to help escort the plane back onto the base. Landing and docking, Minna took us all into the meeting room. Everyone that was part of the reinforcement team was now stripped down, trying to dry off and I had a cup of hot chocolate in my hands.

"So then," Trude came forward, "no one besides Sanya and Blaze saw the Neuroi this time?"

"It was hiding in the clouds and never came out."

"But, I heard it didn't shoot back at all... Does that even happen? Was it really the Neuroi at all?" Erica asked.

"Maybe it was a shy Neuroi!" Lynne suggested... Everyone just went silent and looked at her with a blank stare. "... Or maybe not... Sorry..."

"In that case, they had something in common... Though that puts Blaze out of the question... Maybe they were on the same wavelength?" Perrine suggested while Eila stuck her tongue out at Perrine and I was deep in thought about our current encounter.

"Until that is made clear, we have no way of knowing what kinds of Neuroi will appear in the future."

"I'm not sure about the rest of you, but something REALLY seems off about this." My sister added.

"I guess it confirms that both you and Yoshika attract weird Neuroi." Shirley joked.

"Just what are the Neuroi..." I looked at Minna, thinking the same thing. "Until that is made clear, we have no way of knowing what kinds of Neuroi will appear in the future."

"There is an extremely high probability that the Neuroi that failed will appear continuously."

"But if it attacks at night and fights in the clouds... Why doesn't it go off, skipping this base completely, and attack London?" I asked. "It just doesn't make sense..."

"That, we don't know... But Trude's right. I'm thinking of setting up a shift to prepare for night battle. Sanya."

"Yes?"

"Miyafuji?"

"Y-Yes?"

"For the time being, I am assigning you two to the night team."

"Huh? Me, too?'

"You've had experience in this battle."

"I was only watch-" She was cut off as Eila leaned over her, hand on her head pushing her down.

"Here, here, here! I'll go, too!"

"Okay, Then with Eila, it'll be three of you."

"What about me Minna?"

"That will be easy. Your sister here will accompany you in flight." I gave her a surprised expression when Ember started to ruffle my hair around.

"So, I get to go fly a night mission with my little sis'! This will be GREAT!" With the meeting adjourned, we all headed off to bed.

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

Waking up early, I stretched somewhat before taking off on a morning jog. The crisp morning air in my lungs as I ran around the whole island. Coming around the entrance of the base, I spotted a whole truck load of crates with a large painted on letters saying ",**BLUEBERRIES.**" Stopping in front of them, I only sighed when Trude came out to help carry them in. Bringing them inside, to the kitchen, Lynne took over for setting up our breakfast. Soon everyone else started to arrive a few in groups, some single.

"Oh, blueberries. But why so many?" Perrine questioned as Lynne came back with another large bowl of them.

"They were sent from my home. Blue berries are good for your eyesight!"

"Let's have some!" Erica soon was chomping down on the blue berries and I happily dug into my own serving.

"That's right. I've heard that in Britannia the night flying pilots often eat them."

"I akwely mesh one." I said with a mouth full.

"Ember... Swallow..." My sister gave me a glare.

"Yeah, yeah... I also met one of those night flying Witch's and might I say those DeHavilland Mosquito Striker Units are light!" I glanced at my sister for a second "... Blackwidow's still out perform them slightly though heehee." Taking in my last spoon full of blueberries, a little Romagian popped up next to me.

"Yoshika, Shirley, Ember! Stick out your tongues!" The three of us looked at the little Romagnian before at each other. Shirley shrugged and the three of us stuck our tongues out at her, with her doing the same. Out it came, completely blue and the four of us started to break out into laughter.

"So typical..." Looking back at Perrine, I saw Eila sneaking up behind her.

"And how about you?" Using her fingers, she spread her lips wide open, exposing her pearly... Blue's just as Mio came in.

'_Oooooohhhh, perfect timing!'_

"Everything is in moderation." She left and sat down at the table, eating her portion while Eila slinked off, a grin on her face with Perrine trailing behind.

"W-W-What do you think you're doing, Eila!?"

"I'm not doing anything." Looking over at Mio, she had all ready finished her serving and I had a grin.

"Hey Mio.~" She stiffened up slightly. "Stick out your tongue!" She shook her head in defiance. "I'm not going to force you... Though someone might." Eyes glanced over at Lucchini, who had a stupidly large grin on her face, fingers twitching slightly. "Either you do it or Lucchini will get her way~."

She looked around trying to find a way out but Lucchini had all ready circled around hand ready to grasp. She waved her white flag as she stuck her tongue out, showing it was just as blue as everyone else's. I broke down into laughter for a second before I found myself going face first into the table by a sheathed sword strike to the head.

"So... ugh... Worth it..." I groaned. Lifting my head up, everyone was starting giving me some horrid looks when I felt a hot liquid slide down my face. A crimson red drop splattered against the table and I dabbed my hand experimentally against my head getting a stinging sensation in return. Pulling back, the tips were covered in a crimson red liquid and that's when the stinging pain hit me. "AGH!" I held my fore head in my hands, leaning over in pain when Yoshika rushed over to my side.

"I need you to remove your hands Ember." She ordered and I complied. What ever it looked like made Lynne faint and Perrine turn away a little queazy. "No damage to the bone..." I heard her mumble.

"How bad is it?" I asked, wincing slightly from the pain.

"The cut's about two inches wide and we can see the bone but it doesn't seem like the bone is broken in any way. Head wounds always tend to bleed more than compared to how large the cut is." She explained while activating her magic powers, encasing my head in a blue aura. I could feel the blood flow stop and a weird yet soothing feeling came over the wound. A few seconds later and the aura receded and my head felt fine.

"Heh, thanks Yoshika." I looked at her with a smile before glaring at Mio.

"I'm sorry about that Ember. Didn't mean to injure you that much."

"It's fine Mio," I shook my hand and smiled at her. "I survived being buried under a few hundred pounds of concrete and timber so a little strike to the head won't do me in."

"All right then... Though now that breakfast is finished... In preparation for tonight, you five go to sleep! You will be sleeping in Sanya's room which will now be the temporary Night Station for temporary Full-time staff. Trude, can you help Ember get a second bed into the room... And go wash up yourself Ember. You look someone insane homicidal Witch that just killed her unit..."

"Riiiiggghhhhttt..." Walking off with Trude to my room, I thought of something. "Hey, Trude, you seem to be like... The main lifter in this base."

"Well, that's one down side of having super strength... Though a True Soldier of Karsland will do what they are told to do!" After Trude's help, and a nice scrubbing in the shower, I knocked on Sanya's door before entering.

"We just woke up a little while ago... And they didn't have to make the room dark as well." Yoshika whined as I entered.

"But it's needed Yoshika." My sister explained as I got into the second bed sitting next to her. "It's to help with sleeping in the morning but also get used to the dark."

"Oh... And sorry Sanya... About your room becoming like this."

"No, it's the same as always." She was laying on her side, hugging what looked like a blue cat plushy... Thing... To be honest, I have no idea what it was but I'm not going to question it.

"Ah, I see... Though Blaze is living in Ember's room and there's no blinds..."

"I can basically sleep anywhere." She had a smirk on her face. "I don't mind the light... Though it does help somewhat when everything's dark." Silence returned to the room when Yoshika looked down at the ground.

"Hm?" She picked up a card. "These things are kind of like o-fuda."

"O-fuwat?" I asked eyeing the card she has in her hands.

"O-fuda?" Eila slid over and looked over her shoulder.

"Good luck charms, to keep demons and ghosts out."

"I'm often mistaken for a ghost..." Sanya whispered out.

"Wow, I guess that happens if you fly around at night."

"No, even if I'm not flying around." She rolled over onto her back. "They say they can't tell if I'm there or not."

"That comment still bothering you?" I asked and she didn't answer.

"Don't listen to stuck-up four-eyes. Though if you're bored, I've got tarot cards."

"Tarot?" Both Yoshika and I asked at the same time.

"Fortune telling. I can use my magic to see into the future. Only a little into the future, though." Getting out of the bed I sat across Eila with Yoshika next to me.

"You can go first Yoshika." She picked up a card and we both looked at it as Eila came around.

"Let's see... Hmm? Good for you. You'll soon meet the person you wish to meet most."

"Oh, really?" She brightened up some before looking down. "But... That's not possible... Because, the person I want to meet it..."

"I see... Okay Ember, you pick." Looking over the cards, I picked one up and looked at it. "Oh? You'll be making friends with an enemy of yours... Do you have any enemies Ember?"

"Well... No, only the Neuroi but why would I ever want to friend them?"

"Well, I don't know what to say." She flopped back onto her back. Crawling back into my own, Blaze was all ready fast asleep.

"Might as well get some shut eye..." Closing my eyes, I drifted off when Lucchini's voice woke me up.

"It's evening! Wake up!" Prying my eyes open, I yawned looked around seeing the Blaze somehow rolled over me and is now laying perpendicular on top of my body. Poking her side, she rolled off and got up, stretching and got dressed for the patrol and went down to the kitchen for dinner.

"It's pretty dark out..."

"Yeah. They said it's training where you make your eyes adapt to a dark environment." Taking my own seat, I noticed an unfamiliar drink sitting in front of us.

"What is this?"

"It's marigold herbal tea." Perrine explained, posing as if there was a source of heavenly light shinning down on her. "It's said that this is good for your eyesight as well."

"Oh? I thought that was just a folklore." Lynne gave her a blank look before Perrine jumped into her face.

"How rude! This was passed down from my grandmother's grandmother's grandmother!" She started to growl and Lynne was on the defense immediately.

"I-I'm sorry!" Taking a sip, it wasn't exactly bad, but it wouldn't be my first choice for tea.

"This smells like Sansho..."

"Sansho?" I looked at Yoshika when Lucchini popped up next to Yoshika.

"Yoshika, Lynne, Ember, stick out your tongues again!" Sticking it out with the other three, I saw Lucchini's eye twitch.

"Uuhhh... You all right Francesca?"

"BOOOORRRRRIIIINNNGGG!" She yelled out before flailing her arms around. "Boring! Dull! Dull! Dull! Dull! Dull! Boring! Boring!" And on went Lucchini's rant for a while longer before she retired to Shirley's chest... Again. With all the dishes put away, I checked the clock and it was all ready time for our patrol.

"Come on, it's time." With a wave of my hand, we all went down to the hanger and got ready. Loading two extra mags into the harness we all walked out to the edge of the hanger. Flipping a switch, the runway lights started to flicker on as power was added to the bulbs.

"T-The shaking wont stop..." I looked over at Yoshia and then down at her hands.

"Why?"

"I didn't think the sky would be this dark at night."

"Don't worry Yoshika. You will be just fine." I tried to comfort her.

"Is this your first time flying at night?"

"Want to pass?"

"It's all right if you don't want to go up this time Yoshika. I'm sure the four of us can pull the patrol."

"No, I want to go!... B-But..." She lifted her hand up. "Can we hold hands? Sanya, Ember, if you two hold hand with me, I'm sure I'll be fine..." Nodding and jumping over to her left side, I took her hand while Sanya took her right hand.

"Come on, lets go all ready!" Eila whined and we all started our engines.

"Huh? W-W-What? Wait! I'm not ready yet!"

"To late for that Yoshika!" We all bolted down the runway, Yoshika yelling at us the whole way down until we took off into the sky.

"Don't let go of my hands! Promise you won't let go!" She whined, her eyes shut as we flew.

"You know it wouldn't be as terrifying if you had your eyes open."

"Hang on a little longer. We're coming out above the clouds." Seconds later, we broke the cloud cover and the night sky was illuminated by a bright moon.

"Amazing!" Yoshika let go of our hands before pulling up and started to fly around slightly. "There's no way I could have come all the way here by myself! Thank you, Sanya, Eila, Ember!"

"No... It's our duty."

"And this is where I will be saying my good bye." Banking over to my sister's six o'clock position, Yoshika gave us a confused look.

"Where are you two going?"

"We've got a separate patrol path so we will be heading off now." Blaze explained.

"Stay safe out there you three. Keep in radio contact and we all should be fine."

"Oh... Well, see you soon!" With a wave, the two of us banked off and started our own patrol into the night. The Neuroi didn't show up this night and we ended our patrol. Though the next day... Well, it was quite interesting. Waking up for the morning breakfast, we had an unusual cup of unknown liquid

"What's this?" Perrine asked, peering over it.

"It's liver oil, from lamprey. It's full of vitamins and good for your eyesight." I looked at it weirdly.

"It's got a strange viscosity..." I sloshed it around and it stuck to the walls of the cup somewhat.

"It smells kinda fishy." Erica smirked.

"Well, it _is_ fish oil. If it's nutritious, the taste doesn't matter."

"Hahahaahaa!" Perrine started to laugh. "What an unrefined choice. So fitting for Miyafuji! Hahahaha!"

"No, I'm the one who brought it." Mio said and Perrine paled a bit before diving on the cup.

"I shall humbly accept this!" She nearly spilled it when she lunged at it before downing it all in one gulp.

"Well... How bad can it be?" Drinking it down as well, I instantly regretted it when it touched my tongue. "GYUH!" I gurgled out before I fell backwards in my chair, hitting the floor with a clunk.

"Eww, what's this?" Lucchini whined.

"There's a type of engine oil like this."

"You've tasted engine oil before Shirley?" I questioned her, still on the ground. Eila on the other hand was trying to spit it out as Sanya just stared at her cup with empty eyes. Looking over at my sister, I saw that she wasn't doing any better.

"When I was a newcomer, I was forced to drink this and couldn't stand it." Mio explained, rubbing her hand against the back of her head.

"And I see why..." Crawling back up into a somewhat seated position, I took a glance at the Karlslandian trio. Trude wasn't saying anything knowing her but we all could see the regret on her face while Erica was giving Minna a horrified look.

"One more!"

"... How can you stand that stuff Minna?"

"What? It's quite good..." With breakfast done, it was back to the night fighter room we went.

"Hey, Eila and Sanya, where are your homelands? I know where Ember and Blaze are from but not you two."

"I'm from Suomus."

"Orussia."

"Um, where's that again?"

"Suomus is in Norther Europe. Orussia is to the East." I explained.

"I see. But I heard that most of Europe was invaded by the Neuroi."

"Yeah. The city I lived in fell long ago." Sanya whispered.

"Then what about your family?"

"They all left the city and took shelter further east. Much further, past the Ural Mountains."

"I see, that's good..." Since a conversation was started, we all were sitting up.

"How is that good? Are you even listening?"

"Well, because even if they're far apart, someday they'll be able to meet again!"

"Listen, Orussia is huge!" Eila stuck her arms out wide emphasizing on the scale of the country. "The land beyond the Urals is dozens of times bigger than Fuso. It's no easy task to find someone there."

"Yeah."

"Besides, there's even a Neuroi hive in between."

"Yeah... You're right. But, still, I'm envious."

"You're stubborn, aren't you?"

"Aren't we all when it comes to certain things eh, Eila?"

"Well, what I mean is... Sanya, you want to see your family again right?" She gave a small nod. "In that case, I'm sure your family can't wait to see you again, as well. If neither side gives up, then someday you'll meet again. Being able to think that way is wonderful."

"You are one stubborn girl..." Looking at the time, it was about an hour before our shift.

"Wow, I'm so sweaty." Yoshika was the first one to exit the room.

"That's what happens when you've got five Witches, sleeping in the same room I guess."

"Hey, why don't we go to the sauna?"

"There's a sauna here!?" I yelled.

"Umm... What's a sauna?"

"To answer Ember's question... Yes, we have a sauna here. And you've never been to a sauna before Miyafuji?" She gave a grin before we all went down to the sauna. With everything set, I laid back, stretching my hands behind my head when Yoshika started to complain again.

"This is just the same as before."

"But at least this is better than sweating away in a bed room."

"In Suomus, we like saunas more than baths."

"Wow, Sanya's skin is so white." I peaked and saw Eila get in Yoshika's face.

"Hey, what are you looking at!?"

"Well, she always wearing black clothing, so it really stands out."

"Stop looking at Sanya like that!" She whined before we all left for a little dip in a spring Eila found on base.

"I did not even know this place existed..." I looked around as we waded into the water. "And my god, the cold water feels great!"

"But... Are you sure it's all right?"

"Nothing beats bathing right after the sauna." I was all ready laying on my back, floating around in the water.

"That, I can confirm."

"Well it does feel nice and cold, but..."

"Don't be embarrassed, we're all girls!"

"No, I mean..." We all stopped when we heard some humming. Peering over a rock, Eila, Yoshika, Blaze, and I could see Sanya sitting on a rock, humming a tune.

"That tune..." Blaze whispered.

"I wonder why..."

"It's like..." We all just kept on listening to the song.

"Doesn't it make your heart throb, Miyafuji?"

"Y-Yeah..." Sanya stopped singing and looked towards our direction and our cover was blown completely. "Oh! S-Sorry!"

"Why are you apologizing?" She got up and stood on the rock now.

"Well, we interrupted you. Um, that's a beautiful song."

"It is." My sister added. "And I remember you singing that song on multiple occasions on our night patrols and... I'm curious, what is it exactly?"

"It's a song my father made a long time ago."

"Your father..."

"When I was little, it wouldn't stop raining. I was counting the raindrops out of boredom and my father turned that into a song for me."

"Sanya studied music in Vienna at her father's recommendation." Eila explained.

"What a wonderful father."

"Dad's seem to teach us all very important things..." I sighed. "Just like mine as being a mechanic..."

"And your own father was wonderful too, Miyafuji."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Your Striker is something Dr. Miyafuji made for you. So, that's enviable."

"Heehee. But I would have rather gotten a cuter present, instead."

"I don't know about you, but I think my Striker is enough of a present for me."

"That's because you've got a custom one!" Blaze yelled at me.

"So extravagant. That's expensive you know!"

"Oh..."

"Heehee." Sanya started to giggle and it soon triggered a chain reaction between the five of us. With the night coming in quickly, we all got out and dried off before getting dressed and we all jumped into our Striker's as soon as it was dark enough. Getting up to our designated altitude, Blaze and I broke off when I started to hear chatter over the radio.

"_Hey, guess what? Today's my birthday!"_

"What?" I pressed my finger agains the my ear piece. "Why didn't you tell us earlier Yoshika!"

"_Well, my birthday is also my father's death anniversary. It's kind of complicated, and I don't have a chance to tell everyone."_

"_You're so stupid. In times like this, fun comes first."_

"_Are you sure about that?"_

"Yoshika's got a point there Eila. I think Trudey back at base might disagree with you on that."

"_Well, you can leave Ms. Panzerfaust out of this! Birthday's are special!"_ The chatter went on a while longer and I just remembered.

"Say, Blaze, you're birthday's coming up as well!"

"Huh?" She looked at me quite confused when her eyes widened. "Oh, yeah! It is!"

"Heh, how could you have-" I stopped short when I started to have that tickling feeling in the back of my mind again. "Neuroi..." I saw Blaze's magical antenna flicked red and green for a second before she had her head on a swivel. I, too, was using my own magic trying to figure out where the Neuroi was when a horrid scrapping noise started to echo through the sky.

"_The hell's that noise!?"_

"_It's... It's a song..."_

"_Why..."_

"Eyes peeled people! It's defiantly the Neuroi! Blaze, where's Sanya and the other current position?"

"About 10 kilometers from us, that direction." She pointed towards them when a large red beam carved itself through the sky. Flying over to my sister, I tightly grabbed her under the arms and got her Striker between my legs.

"Ever wanted to go super sonic?" She gave a grin in reply before I kicked it into high gear. Three bright plumes of orange filled the sky before a red beam shot out again just as I broke the sound barrier. Arriving at my destination, I activating some flaps on the sides of my Striker deploying some air brakes and flared my self upwards, swinging my legs out from under me to kill the rest of my speed when Eila shot off another salvo of rocket.

"Don't come back!" I could see in the white clouds a bright red spot coming towards us, weaving through the missile barrage.

"It dodged!"

"Show yourself!" Another salvo of rockets hit their mark exposing a rather large Neuroi in a fiery orange blaze. It gave out a scream before angling itself towards us.

"There it is!" Quickly slinging my gun around, both Blaze, Eila, and I started to shoot at the on coming enemy.

"No, don't! Run away!" Sanya cried out at us over the combined gunfire.

"There's no time for that!"

"And we're not going to abandon a fellow Witch!" The bullets were tearing through the layers of the Neuroi when a large blue shield formed in front of us, blocking a laser beam directed at us.

"Good thinking Miyafuji!"

"It's all right. We'll win for sure!"

"That's what a team is!"

"One more Neuroi towards victory. One more Neuroi to kill towards liberation!" Hearing the cocking of yet another gun, I took a glance back to see Sanya take up Yoshika's Type 99 and started to fire with us. "That's right! Show the Neuroi who's the hunters!" I yelled as our combined firepower stripped away the Neuroi layers and destroyed the core. The blast of white fragments blew past us with the aid of Yoshika's shield and it started to clear out the cloud layer behind us.

"I can still hear it..." Listening, I could hear the noise of a piano in my intercom.

"No, this is my father's piano." Using her one good Striker, she flew up off Yoshika's shoulder.

"I see, it's the radio! It's reaching us from somewhere in the sky. Amazing! It's a miracle."

"No, not really."

"Huh?"

"Why's that?" I gave Sanya a weird look as she leaned back, resting in the sky.

"It's because today's Sanya's birthday as well. Well, technically yesterday."

"Then, it's the same day as mine?"

"Oohh, a double birthday date in a unit!"

"It's only natural for someone who loves Sanya to celebrate her birthday."

"And that means that her parents are still out there, waiting for her to return..." Blaze said quietly.

"If there's someone like that somewhere in the world, things like this will happen. It's no miracle."

"You're so nice, Eila."

"It's nothing like that, stupid."

"Stupid?... But still... Happy birthday Sanya." Yoshika called out to Sanya.

"And you too. Happy Birthday, Miyafuji."

"Happy birthday."

"Happy birthday you two." Blaze said quietly.

"Thank you!"

"Now if only we had a cake..." I mumbled when Minna came onto the radio.

"_Don't worry about that Ember. We've got one waiting for the two birthday Witches back at base. Good job everyone, return to base._

"Roger, that!" We yelled in unison.

"Hey, Sanya, jump onto my back." I turned around presenting my back to her and she got on greatly and we all went back to base. Letting Sanya down, I docked before Eila skipped over to help Sanya out of her single Striker unit. Equipment stowed, we all were met by a welcome home comity, a cake in tow and a camera in Minna's hand. Happy birthdays were sung and the two birthday girls got to blow out their candles just before Minna got a picture of the two of them. Cake was cut and served before we all went back to sleep and he very next day both Minna and Mio went out with Yoshika her fathers grave. I watched them off, smiling as I saw the car drive off and I felt happy for Yoshika. She's slowly making friends in the 501st and it's starting to become a second family for her.

'_Family...'_ I thought. _'How wonderful it is to be in a family of friends... I wonder how Mom's doing back in the States._' With the dust trail settling down, I turned around and went back into base to perform my daily tasks.

**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	6. Chapter 6

_**Ember's POV:**_

"Hey, Ember." Trude called out from across the hanger. I was head deep within my Striker when she came and I poked my head over the launcher unit with my hands splotched with some grease. "Letter came in for you." Cleaning off the grease on my hands with a red rag, I took it and she went off to do work around the base. Looking at the letter, it had my name written on it and I can tell it was my mothers hand writing. Though it seemed a bit off why it was here.

'_This isn't her usual mailing pattern.'_ I thought to myself as I ripped open the letter and read it.

"_Dear Ember,_

_I know this isn't my usual letter pattern but I wanted you to know that I've signed up for a relief effort to help those that have suffered from the Neuroi attacks in Britannia. I'm currently living in London with the relief unit._

_Love,_

_Your Mother."_

At the bottom of the letter was an address but I couldn't believe it. I read the letter over again and I started to smile.

'_Looks like she had finally gotten out of her depressed state...'_ Folding the letter gently back up and placing it back into the envelope, I quickly went back to work finishing up my fine tuning of my Striker. _'I've got leave days piling up and we're not to have any enemy activity for the next few days... Maybe I can ask for some leave time for Blaze and I to see my mother.'_ Closing up the hatch I went to clean myself up before going to the familiar door of the commanders room. Giving it two quick knocks, I entered the room.

"Hey, Minna, can I file for a three day leave for Blaze and I?"She looked up from her current paper work quite surprised.

"And what might be the occasion Ember?"

"My mother is here in London part of a relief effort to help some of the refugees that came here."

"Is that so?" She opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out two slips of paper before starting to write down time of departure, time of leave, name of person, et cetera, et cetera before she turned it towards me. "Please sign bellow and retrieve your sister so she can sign as well." Signing it, she stamped the form as I left for our room. As usual, Blaze laid sprawled out on her bed in her white night gown sleeping away. Poking her side, she grumbled and rolled over.

"Come on Blaze, wake up."

"30 more minutes..."

"Come on Blaze, just get up all ready. I need you to fill out a form."

"90 more minutes..." She rolled over again, this time pulling her pillow over her head.

"That form is to go see our mother Blaze..." She flinched slightly and the next thing I knew was that her night gown was floating on her bed confined to her form before it flattened out. The door behind me was slammed open and I walked out peaking out to see no trace of my sister. Walking back to Minna's office, I found my sister in uniform signing her name while Minna was on the phone. Placing it back down on the receiver, she stamped Blaze's leave papers as well before addressing the two of us.

"I've arranged for a plane to pick you two in about an hour. Pack what ever you need and wait until then."

"Can't we fly our Strikers to the location?" I asked and she only shook her head.

"Regulations state against that unless it's for combat purposes. I would let you if we could. "

"I see... And what about housing?"

"A Liberion base just outside of London offered some of their barracks to house you two for the small duration."

"Thanks for the work Minna."

"You're welcome. Have a nice stay you two." Minna waved at us as we left her office and off to our room we went. I pulled out two duffles for my sister and I to pack our clothing into. Two more days worth of clothing went in, some bathing supplies, and some other items before I pulled out my service pistol, a custom Colt Model 1911 pistol. I had the trigger redone for a smoother pull, got a match grade barrel installed, and even had the mag well changed around to a larger magazine to hold a total of 11 rounds, plus one in the chamber. I also had the frame and slide painted ebony black. Taking off my green jacket I slung one of the leather straps to my pistol holster over my shoulder and tightened them down before reaching back behind my back and drop in my pistol. Getting my jacket back on, I reached behind me and pulled out my gun in a perfect single handed grip.

"I never understood why you always carried that around with you Ember..."

"Because I don't want a repeat of what happened two years ago." Putting it back into my holster, I zipped up my bag and Blaze did the same before we made it to the hanger where we meet Shirley.

"Yo!" She spotted our duffles. "Where you two goin'?"

"My mother's in London right now and we're going to go visit her." I said, laying the duffle on the ground and sat next to it. "We're waiting for our ride now."

"Oh really now?... Well, have fun you two... Without you two, this might get a bit boring though..." She huffed.

"Heeeeyyy, we won't be gone that long. I'm sure you can last three days without us right?"

"I don't know. Three days does sound like a long time to wait..." She went back to work on her Striker unit when a thought occurred to me.

"I remember you're currently using your back up Striker cause you don't want to tamper much on your super sonic one. Have you figured out what that little Romagian did to your Merlins?"

"That is what I'm trying to figure out right now... And that's not supposed to be there... But it is... And that's different from before... Agh, why didn't I think of this!?" She started to mumble to herself as I heard clanking, racketing, and the occasional rattle of some items when our transport plane arrived. A lone C-47 descended out of the sky and taxied on the runway. Sitting up, I grabbed my bag and looked back at my Striker unit.

"By the way Shirley, you can tinker around with my Striker." She looked up, eyes gleaming.

"You mean it!?" I gave her a nod and her eyes grew saucer sized.

"Just don't break it..."

"Come on Ember! The plane's waiting for you!" My sister pushed my from behind as I waved to Shirley and we both boarded the plane. Gladly, it wasn't a military grade transport plane that flies cargo so it had seats for passengers to sit in. Stowing my belongings and buckling up, I waiting until it taxied around and started to make its run down the runway. The sound of the engines was music to my ears as I listened to the harmonic drone of the engines. Those sounds lulled me to sleep only to be woken up again as my sister poked me in the side. "The pilot said we've got 5 minutes till landing sis."

"Is that so..." Looking out the window, lush green forestry of the mainland rolled bellow us. It all looked so peaceful even though this is the last line of defense for Europe. Karlsland, Gallia, Romagna, and parts of Orussia are under Neuroi control... Yet it seems so peaceful at times... Sooner or later a rather large city came into view and my sister crammed over me to look out the window.

"Wow! Is that London?" With Big Ben passing bellow us, it only confirmed it. "Wow... It's so big!"

"And I do imagine Yoshika did get lost here..." I said under my breath as I looked around seeing how there were building going under construction but also buildings that aren't even scratched.

'_Must be some buildings that weren't hit in the Neuroi's attack..._' Going past London, we waited for about a minute when the pilot came over the intercom telling us we've made it to our location. Buckling up, we landed very smoothly on the runway before we taxied our way to one of many large hangers. The engines were killed and the pilot came out of the cockpit and opened up the door for us.

"Thank you for flying with Liberion Air. Hope you will join us in the future." He saluted me and I saluted back before scouring his uniform for a rank.

"Lovely ride Corporal and thanks for the lift." Lugging the duffle over my shoulder, I walked out, squinting somewhat as we entered the bright afternoon sun. Looking around, I saw three hangers, a rather large barracks, a control tower, a motor pool with multiple jeeps, a rather large runway but also multiple people bustling around. My ears twitched slightly as I heard a familiar drone before a pair of Witches flew over head and banked around to make a landing. Through their distinct noise, and appearance, I identified them as P-47 Thunderbolts. My attention was only broke as I noticed that a jeep was driving up to us, a very familiar person in the drivers seat and another in the passenger's.

"Anne! long time no see!" I walked up to the side of the jeep to see two of my training buddies again. A certain blond haired Liberion I've meet I've all ready met multiple times, but also the brown haired one that I wouldn't think I would see either. Sticking my hand out to the brown haired girl, she took it with a tight grip.

"It's been a while Ember. I think the last time we met was after we graduated from flight training."

"And what about me!?" Seris whined and I looked at her.

"It's good to see you too Seris... Though it's only been a while!" I looked at the blonde Liberion as she puffed her cheeks.

"Hey! It's not everyday I get to meet another person from our training group... Other than Anne here since we're in a squad..."

"And you kind of failed to mention that when you visited me every supply drop..." I grumbled.

"Uhh... yeah... Sorry... Anyway! When I heard that there was going to be a guest coming down here I didn't think that you would be here! What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm on a three day leave time to see my mom. I guess Minna pulled a few strings to get me on this base though... Might be a big confidence booster... Oh yeah! How could I forget!" Grabbing my sister by her shoulder, I lifted her up and placed her in front of me, facing towards Anne. "Anne, I'm pretty sure you haven't met my sister, Blazette."

"Please, call me Blaze." She stuck her hand out and Anne took it.

"Nice to meet you Blaze... Though this is extra good." Anne gave me an evil grin.

"... Oh no. Not _**that**_ grin!" She only nodded before pointing her finger at me.

"I challenge you to a duel again!"

"You think you can still take me on huh?" I grinned as I looked at her, my hands on my hips.

"I may have came in second place in top pilots but I will top you! Not only will I top you, but I will top it in front of your sister!" She stuck her hand out with a smirk and I took it sealing the deal.

"Oh, it's on!... Though I don't have my Striker Unit..."

"We've got a range of Strikers in the hanger for you to borrow."

"Would have smoked you if I had my new Striker but I can still smoke you with a regular one! It's on!"

"Well that's hardly sporting if you had your custom Striker isn't it?"

"Uuumm... If I may interrupt you two but can you get into the jeep all ready so we can get to the barracks?" Seris asked.

"Sorry 'bout that Seris..." Climbing into the back of the jeep, we took off towards the barracks and located the room we will be staying at. Dropping our bags off we both got a tour of the base with the mess hall. It wasn't _as _nice as the dinning hall back on the 501st base, but it's suited for a larger Witch population and base. Taking a sniff, I could smell the wonderful aroma of cooking beef drift around and my mouth started water. "Say, can we grab a bite to eat?"

"Why not?" Walking through the lunch line, some people were giving me some weird looks while some of the younger Witches were just staring me.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"Nah, she wouldn't be in a base this far behind lines..."

"But it really does look like her."

"Do you think I could get an autograph with her?" The whispering drifted around the room as I got a serving of a cheese burger and grabbed myself a salad bowl. Sitting down with the other three, I started to munch down on my food when a young Witch approached my nervously.

"Umm... A-Are you by chance Ember Vermillion?" Swallowing down my food, I turned towards her.

"Yes, I am Ember Vermillion." Her eyes light up when I confirmed everyone's suspicion. She jumped slightly before she pulled her hands out from behind her back with a picture of myself and a pen.

"It really is the actual Fire Maiden! W-Would you mind giving me an autograph?" Shrugging, I took the photo and signed my name on it before giving her back the pen and signed photo. "T-Thank you so very much!" And with that, she ran off with a smile to what seemed like a group of her friends. I kind of regret doing that 'cause I soon was swarmed around by other Witches asking for my autograph. Sooner or later, the flow subsided and I got back to eating my salad when Anne gave me a wry smile

"You're only about 6 minutes on base and you've all ready got fans swarming around you Ms. Fire Maiden." She snickered slightly as I rolled my eyes.

"This is new for me you know. Not everyday I get swarmed by fans..." Finishing up with our lunch, we continued on with the tour. Making it out of the main building, we walked across to the three hangers which housed the many Striker Units with a few P-47's docked up but a the majority of the Strikers were the P-51 Mustang. Though to my dissatisfaction, there wasn't a single P-38 Lightning in use currently. But what really caught my attention was that there were two pairs of DeHavilland Mosquitoes docked in the hanger. "Hey, what are two Mosquitoes doing here?"

"Ah, those are for the two RAF Night fighter Witches we have on base. They were originally stationed in RAF base on the other side of London but we made agreements to house them on base while they get a greater patrol range at night."

"Ah."

"Do you have a Night Witch at the 501st Ember?" Anne asked.

"Well, including myself, we have a Witch from Orussia that joins me in our night patrol." Blaze explained and Anne nodded.

"Though wouldn't you want more Night Witches patrolling the skies since you're on the front lines?"

"We don't really see that much activity at night. And Sanya's Fleigerhammer can make quick work of the Neuroi."

"Fleiger what now?"

"A rocket launcher." Both Anne and Seris gave my sister a blank look at her explanation.

"A-"

"Rocket-"

"Launcher?" Each of them finished their own sentences and Blaze only nodded. "Well...That will certainly do the job... I guess... Now lets move on to..." The tour continued as she showed us the showers, command room, and we ended the tour in the motor pool. "And this is the motor pool... Pretty self explanatory on what goes on in here. And that will wrap up the little tour of the base."

"Nice little base you've got going here." I said with a slight nod.

"Though it's further behind lines than I would like..." Anne grumbled.

"Anyway for us to rent out one of these jeeps to go into town?"

"You just need to ask command to rent one." Seris said. "Though since you're a guest you can tag along one of the other base personal that are on leave... Which I am currently."

"What a coincidence. Mind if Blaze and I get a ride into town and back?"

"Sure! Just be back at the drop off point by around eighteen hundred 'casue tonights dinner is going to be spaghetti and meat balls so I'm not waiting long!"

"Did you already get permission to take a jeep out?" She pulled a slip of paper from her breast pocket and waved it around. Anne went her own way as the Blaze, Seris, and I got into the jeep with myself in the passenger seat and my sis in the back. Turning the key, the engine started with a little stutter before she pulled out of its slot. Stopping in front of the toll booth Seris showed the guard on station the piece of paper and he opened the gate. Pulling out of the base, we followed a dirt road which must have lead to London. The air was crisp compared to the salty air of the 501st base and it all was quiet when the engine started to sputter. The mechanic inside of my started to say, "uh oh," as the engine died off with a sputter and Seris pulled off to the side.

"Son of a- Did I grab the faulty jeep!?" She slammed her fist against the steering wheel as we came to a halt and I sighed. Going around to the boot I grabbed the tool box and returned back to the front of the car. Opening up the hood to examine what I would need to repair and only sighed.

"This might take some time..." I pulled off my green jacket leaving myself in only a white tank top and I laid over the passenger seat. Pulling out tool after tool, I went to work fixing the engine. Looking up occasionally, I saw Blaze sitting on a green patch of grass past the trees looking out over the small rolling hills of the Britannian country side while Seris was kicking small rocks and pebbles off to the side. Tightening up one last bolt, I walked around to the driver side and turned the key. The engine first protested with a few turns of the engine before it grumbled to life. Whipping away the sweat that accumulated on my brow with my fore arm, I grabbed a piece of cloth and whipped most of the grease off my hands just as Seris jumped into the driver seat. My sister was all ready present in the back of the car and off we went again towards London this time without a single problem with the engine. Rounding a corner, houses started to pop up a little scattered at first but were now growing in numbers before we saw the large city of London in front of us. The scale of the city itself was much larger on the ground than in the air and peaceful aura was calming though it was unsettling at the same time. Driving into town I saw the buildings that were under reconstruction though I saw something new about it.

"Witches?" I asked aloud.

"Yeah, some Witches that aren't in combat duty are helping out with reconstruction since they can work just as well as a full force of seasoned men." They gave us a small wave as we passed by and I returned it. After a minute more of driving, Seris found a parking spot and I looked around at the rather large city. "Just remember Ember, eighteen hundred hours!"

"Got it Seris!... Though I don't have a watch..." I scratched my cheek sheepishly when she chucked something at me. Reacting on instinct, I grabbed the object to find it was a pocket watch.

"Don't lose it!" She said as she started to walk off. Taking a closer look at the watch, I saw it had the USAAF insignia engraved onto the top of the watch and outlined in black. Pushing the top down it opened up and I read the time.

"5:00 o'clock. Her shift has ended all ready." Closing it up and putting it into my breast pocket, I looked around before walking over to a random guy walking along the street, asking for directions to the address my mom gave me. Thanking him, I started to walk towards the direction he pointed us. Everything was so peaceful with people walking around all happy going on with their lives like normal. It's as if there wasn't a war going on at all. On the walk though, I was intrigued by the some items in a store window so I stopped walking and looked inside. There were some wooden toys that had wheels and a string attached to them to drag it behind you, but there were also some dolls that had many resemblances to some Witches. One of them even had a small resemblance to me with its short red hair some eagle familiar features, and the USAAF insignia on the wooden stand it was being held up on. Continuing on, we eventually came to the address that mother was apparently staying at. It had two black doors in the center of the rather large structure with Liberion flags flowing on the edges of the building and a single flag right above the entrance. At the entrance of the building were two MP's (Military Police) standing guard. Walking forward to them, they saluted me as I approached and I saluted back before entering through the door with my sister close behind. Looking around I found that it was rather cosy with polished wooden floors. In front of me was a single desk with a women with brown hair typing away on a typewriter. Approaching her, she looked up.

"How may I assist you 2nd Lieutenant?"

"Is there an Amanda Vermillion living here?"

"Amanda Vermillion? One second ma'am." She opened up a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and started to scan. "Ah, yes, we do have an Amanda Vermillion. What's you're reason for seeing her?"

"Personal reasons."

"Right. Would you like to know the room number?"

"Please." She told me the number and I thanked her before walking up to the third floor. Navigating through the hallways and scanning the room numbers, I finally came to a stop in front of the room the receptionists told me to go to.

"Is this the room Ember?" I nodded and Blaze brightened up a bit. Taking in a breath and letting it out, I knocked on the door.

"One-second!" A voice called from the room with the sound of some papers rustling and a scraping sound of a chair being pushed back. Foot steps started to walk towards the door when she opened the door. "May I help you- Ember?" Her red eyes were wide with confusion as she looked at me and then down at Blaze before she stepped forward for a hug. "Ember! Blaze! It's really you two!" She took me into a big hug which I returned.

"It's good to see you mom." She pulled away from the hug and looked me over down and up and nodded her head with a smile.

"You've grown up so much Ember... If only your dad was here to see like this now."

"And what about me?" Blaze whined and my mom went to hug her as well.

"You've also grown a lot too Blazette!"

"I told you to call me Blaze!" She whined.

"You will always be Blazette to me Blaze." She teased before she looked back at me. "Though, why are you two here? Shouldn't you be on the front fighting the Neuroi?"

"Intel from base tells us that there isn't going to be a Neuroi attack for a while and I got some leave time for Blaze and I." I gave her a very warm smile. "And I'm happy you've recovered from that little... Episode in our life."

"And I wish that never did happen." Her expression saddened a bit. "If only I was strong like you Ember in that time of need."

"But you pulled through anyway. You're back on your feet again and now you're here in Britannia helping the civilians and refugees that are in need."

"Yeah... But you." She gave us both a stern look. "Promise me you won't die out there! If you do, I'll drag you out of hell and give you both a good spankin'!" I sweat dropped slightly and patted her shoulders.

"We're with a good group of Witches. I don't think that Blaze and I are going anywhere with them." Taking out the pocket watch Seris lent me, I saw it was about 5:50 and I looked at my mom sadly.

"I hate to say this, but this little meet needs to be cut a little short mom."

"Why's that?"

"I promised a friend that we'll be back to meet here at 6:00 o'clock to get a ride back to base and it's nearly time."

"I see. Where are you two staying at the moment?"

"Ember and I are staying at the Liberion base just outside of town." Blaze explained and she nodded.

"It's lovely seeing you two again... You've changed so much over the years Ember. You've grown into a very fine woman." I smiled and stepped back from the door saying our goodbyes before we both left making our way back through the streets to meet Seris back at the jeep. She was leaned against the hood of the jeep with her arm crossed across her chest. As we got closer, she raised her hand up to greet us and we returned the gesture.

"You're sure early here Seris."

"Heh, wanted to get going as soon as possible as you arrive. I can all ready smell the meat balls cooking at base right now." She started to salivate slightly as her eyes went half lidded in her little fantasy when something behind her caught my attention. I saw three rather buff guys follow what looked like to be another girl down an alleyway and I started to walk towards their direction. "H-Hey, Ember! Where you going!?" Seris called out after be but I ignored as I picked up my pace. Before I knew it, I was in a full out run. Sliding to a stop in front of the alleyway seeing the girl was in one of the guys arms, hand clamped over her mouth as she tried to struggle out of his grasp while another one looked quite amused and the last one going through one of her bags.

"Hey!" I yelled and the three of them looked at me surprised and something must have snapped inside of me as I started to walk towards them. "Oh it's scum like you that I just hate. Hell, you're lower than even the Neuroi." The two guys that wasn't holding the girl got in front trying to intimidate me. "Attacking a little girl while we're all trying to survive against the Neuroi?" The longer I looked at them, the more I was ticked off to a point were even my familiar features started to come out and a small blue aura lined my body. One guy decided it was a bright idea to charge at me and thrust his fist out in a punch. I caught that fist in an open paw. His facial expression wasn't one of confidence anymore before I pivoted my foot around and grabbed his arm with my other hand pulling him over my shoulder and slamming him into the cobble stone ground. Tilting my head back at the other two I glared at them when the second one charged at me. He threw out another punch and I bent backwards, kicking one of my feet out to keep my balance and his fist sailed right over me. Pivoting my foot, I did a backflip down the alley distancing myself from the other assailant when Seris jumped over me heel spinning connected with the right side of his head with a slight crunch.

"Nice of you to join me Seris." She also had her own familiar features out and we both glared at the last person who pulled a gun on us.

"I see it was in good spirit when you ran off there Ember."

"Yes... Though we're Witches. What will that puny little pistol do to us?" His hand was shaking as he kept the six shooter trained on us. Taking a step forward, he shot and I erected a shield, blocking the bullet. He must have lost his nerve since her unloaded four more bullets in our direction and they only bounced harmlessly off our shield before I reached behind my back and drew my own pistol, shooting the gun out of his hand.

"To hell with this!" He pushed the girl he was keeping hostage and started to run. Seris caught the girl and I was about to pursue when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking back, Seris shook her head. I looked at her confused before looking at the fleeing person when a leg shot out, knocking him backwards. Focusing, I could see it was my sister who knocked him out. Behind us, some police officers came running in and started to arrest the three thugs. Holstering my gun, I looking at the little girl and could see she was quite frightened from what just happened. Leaning over slightly, I went eye level with her.

"What's your name?"

"Marie Josephine." She said in a small voice and she looked at me with a small smile. "Thank you very much. I didn't know those guys were following my and... Well, this alley way is a little short cut back to my house.

"Well, I'm glad you're all right." Looking around I saw that some of the items in the bag she was carrying were strewn around. Helping her pick them up, she bowed and thanked us before running off. Receding my familiar features, I jumped back into the jeep and Seris started the engine.

"I sometimes wonder what goes through people's minds even in a time of war..." Seris complained as we pulled away and I glanced back in the rear view mirror to see the three thugs in handcuffs being dragged away by the police.

"Did I tell you that Blaze and I nearly got mugged back in the states Seris?" She stared at me with a dead pan stare and shook her head. "Well, that's also when I discovered my Witches powers."

"Ah." The rest of the drive was quite silent and when we arrived on base, we parked the jeep again and down to the mess hall we went and bot was Seris correct in trying to get here before everyone else did for the spaghetti was amazing.

'_I wonder if little Francesca knows how to cook up some spaghetti and meat balls... I wonder if she __**can**__ cook...'_ I thought as I chugged my glass of water washing down the delicious meal. It soon turned dark and I stood with some of the other Witches on base in the showers, rinsing off todays grime before I slipped into something more bed appropriate and fell asleep in my room.

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**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	7. Chapter 7

_**Ember's POV:**_

Morning came quickly for me since last night and I woke up with a slight yawn. Stretching out in my bed, I turned my head and looked outside to see the sun was only just now coming up. Pushing the sheets off, I pulled on my workout clothing and went for a morning jog around the base. The air was fresh and crisps and was cold enough that I could see my own breath every time I breathed. I even saw the two Witches that were on patrol touch down on the runway and taxi back into the hanger. Following up the little run, I stretched a bit before moving onto the bases weight room. Not to my surprise, I was quickly joined by Anne and we went on our regular routine. The room was at first, just as cold as the rest of the base, but now it feels like a sweat factory. Taking a swig from my canteen and wiping the sweat off my forehead, we both hit the showers to clean ourselves up and refreshen ourselves for the days work. At breakfast, I was surrounded by new cadets fresh out of training wanting to hear out an old warhorse's tales of her journey through the war and I swear, they listened to every detail of some of my old tales with the 370th and even some with the 501st. By the end of it all, I gathered quite the crowed around me.

"Wait, so you didn't upgrade to the P-51 yet?" One of the new recruits asked me and she looked like she was only about 14-ish.

"I still haven't either."

"But, isn't the P-51 better in almost every category compared to the P-38?"

"Well, yes. But it's not always about the Striker unit, it's about the pilot that uses the Striker that's key... And the P-38 is tied to me in a way that I just can't get rid of it. Hell, the custom Striker I have is even based off the Lightning!" With breakfast ending, Anne approached me as I left the mess hall.

"Say, Ember, how about that duel?"

"Today?"

"Why not? You've only got tomorrow before you have to leave again."

"Well... I was going to go see my mother again today..."

"Oh... Ah, and I've also got to train some of the new nuggets as well!" There's was a little awkward silence between her and I when a a private walked up to me and saluted. Turning to him, I saluted back and he stood at attention.

"You've got a visitor 2nd Lieutenant Vermillion."

"A visitor?"

"Please, follow me." He turned around and I looked at Anne and only shrugged. Following him through the base, we arrived to the visitors area to find my mom talking with my sister and a visitor's tag on her chest.

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

"Can't a mother visit her daughter while she's on base after she hasn't seen her for over two years?" She gave me a pleading look and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah... But don't you have work?"

"This is my one day off every week so I came down to this base."

"Though what about regulations about civilians on base-"

"The relief effort I'm apart of gives me clearance to enter a base if the commander approves of it. Though can you give me a little tour around the base? I've never been here before. I've only the RAF ones in London."

"Sure. Why not." Turning around I started to take her on the same path Seris did with me showing the dorms, hangers, mess hall, etcetera etcetera when my mom asked me a question.

"Say, Ember, on this little tour... I've been hearing something about a little duel between the visitor and a girl on base?"

"Uh... Yeah... That."

"Ember! When is the duel going to begin!?" Anne stormed up to me clearly annoyed.

"Calm your horses Anne. It will be today... Just need to see what Striker's I can borrow for the fight." She puffed her cheeks.

"Fwine... And who's the visitor?"

"Amanda Vermillion, Ember's mom."

"I thought civilians aren't aloud-"

"I've got permission from the base commander to be here." My mother cut her off quickly and she only nodded her head in compliance.

"Tell me, are there any P-38's here on this base that are in storage?" I asked her and she nodded her head.

"We've got some old relics in storage. But they haven't been run in months."

"Good enough for me. Show me the way!" Marching on, we came to a rather large storage room with multiple boxes of spare parts and a few Striker's under some tarps. Walking over to one and pulling the cover off, I saw it was an old P-40 Kittyhawk and it was a nice Striker, just not the one I'm looking for. Going over to another one, I pulled its' tarp off and was happy to find a P-38-J underneath. Mentally fist pumping, grabbed the two of them and turned around happily. After wading my way through the mess of boxes, I finally got out into the fresh air once more.

"You honestly think you can still beat me with that old Lightning?"

"There's only one way to see." With everyone in tow, I walked towards the hanger and set them down on one of the many tool benches with a wall lined with different tools. Opening up the Striker, my eye twitched slightly as I saw how dirty the insides of the Striker was.

'_HOW CAN SOMEONE DO THIS TO SUCH A BEAUTIFUL MACHINE!? ... But I guess this will happen when it's been neglected for such a long time.'_ I thought.

"Don't worry baby, you'll be flying in tip top shape soon enough." I said silently as I ran my hand down the aluminum plating of one of the Striker booms.

"You even sweet talk your Strikers Ember?" Anne gave me a questioning look as if I was some insane person and I looked back at her.

"The Striker is the life of us Witches... And I guess I'm just that attached to the P-38 heehee..." I chuckled nervously before I went to work pulling part after out to survey how much work I will need to do. Whistling, I stepped back to see look at the large amount of parts that laid before me. "This might take a while..." Stepping back towards it, I went to work cleaning every part and inspecting each and every one of them. The whole time, my mother watched very closely while Anne started to get ready for her training routine today. Ten other Witches started to enter the hanger that must have been Anne's training group since they had an aura to them that was yelling they were completely green and have seen no combat what so ever. Ignoring them, as I worked, I only looked up when I finished assembling one of the Striker legs and the unmistakable rumble of twenty two Merlin engines filled the room. My mother covered her ears at the large noise but I enjoyed the symphony of the engines before they all took off out of the hanger and onto the taxi lane. Anne was the first on off and the rest flew up in pars of two.

"How can you stand such a noise Ember?" My mother questioned me as soon as the drone of the engines left the hanger and I only shrugged.

"Inner mechanic is screaming, '"Hell yes,"' to it all and I've grown accustomed to the noise." Going back to work on finishing the last Striker leg, I finished just as Anne and her group landed again and taxied back on in.

"Take a ten minute break girls and then we're going back up for more training!" She commanded and all of them responded with a, "Yes, ma'am!" before they started to talk with each other. Anne walked up to me as I finished screwing in the last part and closed up the hatch again.

"Are they ready?" Attaching a few devices to the Striker, the lights on a console all light up green and I gave her a thumbs up. She in turn cracked her knuckles and a large grin spread over her face. Turning to the rest of the girls she announced: "All right, listen up! Today, you're going to get a very special aeronautical display, by the Fire Maiden herself!" The girls started to cheer slightly but was silenced as Anne continued. "And after that, there will be a little duel between myself and her so you better take some notes on how we fly!" She turned around in her Striker and gestured to me. "Ember?"

"Give me a second." The girls parted like the red sea as I walked through and my mother followed behind when I placed them down and locked them in the Launcher. Jumping in, my Golden Eagle familiar features came out and some of the girls Ooohhhh'ed and aaaahhhhh'ed when I looked at my mother. "You might want to cover your ears and step back a little." She did so and I started to feed magic into the engines. They roared to life and a large magical circle formed under my feet and everyone had eyes on me. I tilted my head back and listened to hear if there was anything wrong in the engines. Giving it a few revs, I found no faults and I looked back forward. With the Striker released, I started to hover forward past the girl and Anne gave me an intercom for the base. Putting it in my ear and I started to taxi down onto the runway and radioed the control tower.

"Air Control, am I cleared to take off?"

"_You're cleared for take off."_

"Roger! Ember, taking off!" Gunning the engines and leaning forward slightly, I started down the runway slowly increasing speed.

'_Now it's time to break you in after a long time of sitting.'_ Pulling up, I went into a straight climb, engines roaring and the turbosupercharger whining as I clawed for altitude. It was a cloudless day when I cut my engines. Air speed had decreased rapidly as I swung my legs out from under me. Applying power, I started to descend at a rapid rate before I pulled up hard about 150 meters from the ground. Pulling a high-G barrel roll in both directions without a problem, I banked around and buzzed the little crowed of Witches and my mother at the mouth of the hanger.

"_All right, stop showing off and return back to me for the main course."_ Anne called out after me and I did a mini back flip before landing back down with them. Walking as best as I could in the Striker, I walked over to them when Anne tossed a rather large object at me. Catching it, I identified it s a training BAR painted with the regular orange and white.

"And this will be the start of our duel." Looking at Anne, she also had a BAR and it was leaning against her shoulder with her hand on the end of the butt stock.

"May the better Witch win!" I stuck my hand out and she shook it sealing the deal before we both taxied off onto the run way. We both took off and Anne pulled around and started to fly in the opposite direction.

"_Well fly about 500 meters away from the base in each direction before we turn around. Once we pass each other over the base, the duel is on!"_ Looking back down, I could see a large group of people were starting to come out and watch the skies. Reaching my mark, I got into a hover and turned around.

"You in position?"

"_I'm in position. Start accelerating back to base on my mark!"_ I pulled the charging handle loading a paintball into the chamber as she started her countdown. _"Three! Two! One! GO!"_ The Alison engines roared to life as I started to gain airspeed. The base soon appeared bellow me and I saw the little glint of Anne's Striker in the distance before she passed me. We both pulled hard to get on each other's six o'clock and the Mustang just pulled ever so much better than my Lightning and I had her on my tail.

"Tch." Rolling right, I started to bank hard pulling many G's as I turned hard to the right before I rolled over again and pulled hard to the left. I heard the small pops as Anne tried to fire and the paintballs sailed behind me as I rolled again. Both of our engines were roaring as we pushed harder and harder as I bobbed and weaved to keep her aim off of me. Taking the fight into the vertical, I started a rolling spiral climb straight up and Anne followed. I felt my airspeed decreasing every passing second in this maneuver and we both were going to stall out. We both knew it as well when I nosed over again to gain airspeed. More paintballs sailed past me as Anne opened fire and I rolled over to dive away. Peaking back, I saw that she too had rolled over to follow me in a dive when I started to pull some positive G's into an inverted climb. She took the bait and instead of climbing after me. My vision started to go red as more blood rushed to my head and I rolled over this time getting on Anne's tail. She was hitting the deck hard trying to get away from me and I kept up ever so slightly but I kept my distance since the Mustang could out maneuver me. She was taking me on for a ride of my life as we both dove into the forest around the base. It wasn't exactly the smartest move but it was pushing out piloting skills to the max. Flying in over 750 km/h we waved through the trees of the forest when I drew bead on her. Pulling the trigger, I saw the paintballs fly but hit a tree as she banked quickly to the right avoiding it. It was quickly coming head on and it forced me to roll left and I lost track of Anne when some paintballs splattered on a tree next to me. Looking back, she had all ready pulled around and was on my six again. Cursing lightly I pulled up out of the trees and into the open sky again.

'_If I don't do something soon, this fight will be over soon.'_ I was breathing quite hard now and I guess Anne was no better than me in how much longer we could fight. Swinging my legs from under me, I drastically decreased my airspeed before rolling and continuing the flip to start flying right. With this move, Anne over shot me but she pulled up into a high yo-yo and was on my six again. Estimating my airspeed again, I knew I was slow enough to try something quite risky. Swinging from side to side, I slowly decreased my throttle and Anne started to get closer to me but wasn't firing as I rolled and juke hard around when I got here were I wanted her. Pulling up hard, I swung my legs out from under me and I flipped in mid air gun extended. Bellow me as I went through the half rotation was Anne and she looked up at me surprised.

"Checkmate!" I pulled the trigger in the minuet gap I had and paintballs splattered all over her back and Striker. Flying back up in formation, she gave me a sour look as we landed and taxied our way back to the rather large group of people that had came out to witness the duel. People were cheering as we cut out engines and landed on the ground lightly and Anne only shook her head.

"God damn Ember! I thought I had you back there!" She had a slight grin on her face as she patted me on the back.

"And I admit you nearly had me back there as well. Though this would have been a different story if I had my Firebird." I gave her a grin and she returned a puzzled look.

"Firebird? I thought you had a Lightning."

"Nope! Lockheed gave my Striker a new designation as the P-38-N Firebird."

"Damn, I'm so jelly of you at the moment." She stuck her hand out with a grin. "And good fight."

"You too." I took it and shook it before I was swarmed by girls asking if I could teach them of the maneuvers I pulled and I looked at Anne for help.

"You think you could probably join us in our training? They might even learn a few things with you onboard."

"Give me a minute and I can get back into the sky." Walking over to a Launcher unit, I clamped my Striker down in the launcher and I got out of it before taking a swig of water from a canteen my mother handed to me.

"So this is what you've evolved into becoming Ember?"

"In this line of work, it's either you evolve to the situation or you die."

"Well, you could have put it so it's less grim."

"This is as grim as it can get mother. War is absolute hell but I will fight to the better end and I will come alive out of it." I looked sadly at the girls that were chatting with each other and shook my head.

"Once the orders for them to mobilize to a new base... They're life will change forever once they get into real combat..."

"You think they all will make it once they're in the sky?"

"Most of them might make it but..." My thoughts drifted. "Some of them might not..." I clenched my fist slightly as I jumped back into my Striker and detached it from the launcher. "Well, it's time for me to go up again." Looking at Blaze since she was sitting on the side line the whole time and I saw one extra P-51 laying on it's sides under a cover. "Yo Blaze, grab that P-51 over there and meet me up in the sky. You're going to be my training partner."

"Right!" She ran off and I continued to walk over to Anne. For the next few hours we trained and shown the recruits some combat maneuvers, how to maintain their speed longer, build it up, and gage what maneuver is appropriate at the time. Some of them got the maneuvers immediately while others needed some more time to get a grasp on them. Soon, since we all were quite exhausted, we all landed. My mother said her good bye when we landed saying that she remembered there's some papers she needs to do for tomorrow. It was about mid day and we all went back inside for a lunch consisting of some sandwiches and a nice cold glass of milk and sooner or later boredom consumed me again as I lazed around on a couch in the base's lounge area. I starred at the same point on the ceiling for what seemed like an hour before I cracked.

"Gah... I need something to do..." Rolling off the couch, I started to wonder around the base trying to find something to do when I found myself back into the hanger. Looking around, I only saw a single girl in the hanger who looked like was having a hard time with her Striker unit. Walking over to her, I noted that it was the same girl who was the first to ask for an autograph when I first arrived. "Need any help there?" She jumped slightly and turned around.

"Oh! 2nd Lieutenant!"

"Please, call me Ember."

"R-Right Ember."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Well," she turned around, "it's not the only time I've worked on my Striker but... There's a weird feeling I was having while flying it today."

"Hhmmm..." Any person could tell the gears in my were starting to turn in my head. "Not 100% sure what's going but... Do you mind if I test the Striker?"

"N-No problem! I'd be honored!" Quickly putting the Striker back together, I slid into the Striker and pumped some magic into it. It rumbled to life as I fed magic into it and I started to have a weird feeling as the Striker rumbled. Concentrating on the sound of the engine, I made note on how the RPM's went down slightly in a rhythmic motion. Cutting them and jumping out, I opened up the Striker's magical engine and started to rummage around slightly. "You know what's wrong with it?"

"I have a hunch and..." I reached around and finally got to the magic filter. Pulling it out, I nodded my head. "Found the problem." The engines magic filter swung back and forth slightly in my hand and it was starting to turn pitch black. "This thing you see here is supposed to be completely white or only slightly dirty. At this point your engine performance will start to suffer."

"Though, what does the magic filter have to do with the problem." She asked as I looked for a replacement part in the many boxes in the hanger.

"With the filter black or really dirty like this you'll start having some blockage in the magical ejectors for the engine so you're starving the engines of magic. I could hear the engine fluctuate RPM's so I just guessed this was the problem." Finding the replacement part, I replaced the part and buttoned up the Striker again finishing the job. "And now your Striker should be fixed-" Turning around, I didn't notice that yet another crowd of young Witches had gathered around in the hanger and I sweat dropped as they all asked me to inspect their Strikers.

'_Well, you asked for something to do to kill my boredom Ember... Eat your words and do it.'_ For the next few hours I helped them, teaching them a bit more advanced way of maintaining their Strikers and fixing them in small ways. In the end, we I had basically gone through all the Striker's in the hanger. Hell, even the two night Witches happened to be awake and asked if I could look at their Mosquito Strikers Units. Might I say it's kind of weird how most of it is made out of wood but I'm not questioning it much. Finishing up with the activities and reassembling of the Strikers, all the girls were filthy with grease including myself and we all went down to the showers to clean ourselves off again. Though in this time here on base I felt like I was getting closer to the little Witches on base and it kind of saddened me thinking I will have to leave them tomorrow. I even noticed my sister was getting close to some girls her age as well on our short time here. Finishing up quickly, I left and got dressed before any of the other girls finished up and I ran into Seris at the exit of the showers. She was leaning up against the entrance and only shook her head.

"God damn Ember, you're befriending the nuggets better than how both Anne and I did when they first arrived." I chuckled lightly at her remark.

"Befriending people I guess is one of my natural talents. I made good friend with both Anne and yourself... Though you've also changed."

"How so?"

"You don't seem as uptight leading a group as you used to." She nodded her head slightly.

"I had a good teacher when we left from basic and advanced training."

"Though when did you start calling the newbies 'nuggets'?" I asked her and she chuckled.

"That's a catch phrase that stuck after being trained under Captain Jane Bartlett. An old Witch who taught both Anne, myself, and some more Witches our advanced training once we got to the front lines."

"And a good teacher she must have been." The day moved on to dinner in half an hour later and it was a standard meal of some sandwiches. But by now both Blaze and I were starting to miss Yoshika's godly cooking and we both were kind of itching to get back to base to eat more of her food. Hell, even my mouth started to water just from the thought of some of her Fuso dishes. Rolling into my bed sheets, I started to plan out the rest of the day for tomorrow for what we should do for the rest of the time here in London. Though as much as I don't want to admit it... I don't like the idea of behind this far behind friendly lines while there's still a very large Neuroi presence. Britannia is the last line of defense and I want to get back into the action as fast as I can... But I do guess some peace and quite is needed for my line of work...My thoughts drifted to the nuggets that are here and I frowned a bit.

'_Those kids won't get a proper childhood... No, when the Neuroi arrived, no Witch would have a normal childhood... I need to end this war fast so the next few generation of children will live in a world without fear of the Neuroi... Though I guess without the Neuroi, I wouldn't have met all my friends either... A double edges sword I guess.'_ Rolling over onto my side, I scowled slightly as another thought came back to me. I knew Eila's tarot cards weren't always correct... But they were once in a while. And the one I picked up still was bothering me. _'I would make friends with one of my enemies... Why am I still worried on this? I would never make friends to the Neuroi!'_ I kept on debating on the subject for most of the night before my tiredness took over and I feel asleep.

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**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	8. Chapter 8

_**Ember's POV:**_

'_So... This is my last day here... And back to base Blaze and I will go.'_ Opening my eyes, I looked out the window and estimated it was about 6:30 in the morning. Rolling out of bed, I performed the regular morning routine of running and weight lifting before freshening myself up. Breakfast was served at the regular time, this time a serving of scrambled eggs and a side of bacon, and I ate it all down in just a few minutes. Finishing, I went down to the base commander's office asking what time my transport would arrive and he said sometime between two to three o'clock in the afternoon. Checking the clock, it was just past seven so I had plenty of time to kill. Pondering what I might do to spend the rest of my time here, I decided it was time for a proper get together my mother. Asking if I could rent out one of the base's jeeps, I grabbed Blaze and started to jeep up. Putting it into gear, I drove down to the exit of the motor pool showing the form before pulling out of the base.

"Where we goin' Ember?"

"To see our mother. I think our last day here should be spent with her."

"Yay!" She cheered and the view to the city was still amazing as ever. A small portion inside of me will miss the peacefulness of this city but the rest of me is gung-ho to get back into the fight. Driving into the city, I found a place to park before walking the same rout the man a few days ago pointed me towards and I found myself back in front of the building my mother was staying in. Walking in, I asked if my mother was in but the receptionist shook her head.

"She's out at the moment doing her rounds around town ma'am."

"Do you know where she might be at this moment?" She tapped her finger on the desk in thought before opening a drawer and rummaged pulling out a piece of paper and told me where she should be in between. "Thanks. Can you give me some directions?"

"Three blocks down, take a right and walk another block before taking a left and you should see her around the area."

"Thank you." Leaving the building, I followed her directions and I was amazed how much more damage there was towards the center of the city.

'_I guess the Neuroi didn't really hit the outer edges of the city as hard.'_ I thought. Looking up at the buildings, I could see some of them were still charred from what must have been by a fire and wasn't being worked on at the moment while others had Witches on top working away at rebuilding the structure. There were even some places where burnt wood, scorched wood, soot, and ash was all the remains of a building. Rounding the last corner I saw that most of this block was under heavy reconstruction. Both regular builders and Witches were hard at work repairing the damaged buildings while there were some people living out on the streets. Looking around, I finally spotted my mother exiting a building and she let out what looked like a small sigh.

"Mommy!" Blaze cheered before running towards her and said person turned to look at us with a rather surprised look before getting a rather large embrace from my sister. Walking over calmly I gave a slight wave and a smile and she looked up at me.

"Blaze? Ember? I thought you're leaving today?"

"We are. Our plane will be arriving sometime between two and three o'clock so we have plenty of time. And that time we want to spend with you."

"But I have to do my rounds and that means I can't really go anywhere with you two."

"Then we will tag along with you!" Blaze suggested and she pursed her lips while thinking.

"Well... If you tag along, I don't really see any problem with that. We'll be able to talk in between buildings and then we'll have plenty of time to catch up and talk." The three of us had started to walk when she said we could tag along when we heard a voice above us.

"WATCH OUT!"

'_Huh?'_ Looking up my eyes widened as a large ass wooden beam IS FALLING ON US! _'SHIIITTTT!'_ Rushing under the piece of wood, I raised my hands and activated my magic maximizing my output to my strength and arms while layering a shield above my hands and braced my legs for impact. With the piece of wood connecting, my legs buckled slightly even with the shield absorbing most of the shock. Dismissing it, I now gripped the wooden beam and set it down when I looked up to see a Witch looking over the edge quite scared.

"Are you all right!?"

"Peachy." I replied when I started to look around noticing that people were staring at me before I looked back up at the Witch. "Want me to throw it back up there?" I tightened up my grip on it and looked up. "Cause here it comes!"

"What?" Lifting as hard as I could, I threw the beam back up at her and she scrambled around quickly before grabbing it with an "Umph."

"You got it?"

"Y-Yeah! Thanks... I guess." She turned and went back to work when I looked up and around and saw that I attracted quite the crowd.

"Umm... Nothing to see here..." I announced waving off the people before I took my mothers arm and started to walk away from the scene.

"E-Ember... What was that?" My mother asked quite shaken up.

"Some of my Witchly powers at work. Nothing more."

"Wow... And all Witches are strong like that?" She placed a hand against her cheek and shook her head trying to get rid of her shock.

"Well... Not exactly. All Witches get some sort of strength enhancement when they use their magic, but some Witches have special abilities than can be unique to them. From what I can tell, my special ability is to sense a Neuroi presence and a small strength enhancement as I demonstrated back there."

"I see... Though i wouldn't call that a 'small' strength enhancement."

"From what I can tell, mostly the Karlslandian Witches usually have some sort of major strength enhancement."

"And I have the ability to receive and send radio waves along with broadcasting my thoughts!" Blaze added.

"Anyone else in your squad have any special traits?"

"Well... Minna has the ability that is an area analysis type, Erica has a combat based one called Strum, Shirley has some speed magic which can make her go faster, I'm not so sure about little Francesca's though... Mio has a magical eye that can see over a much greater distance while also being able to see Neuroi cores. Lynne has what I think is a ballistic stability ability."

"English please?"

"It help her aim where her bullets go."

"Ah."

"Yoshika has healing magic, Sanya can also has an ability to detect items from quite a distance including Neuroi, Eila has an ability to see slightly into the future, Trude's got super strength, and I'm not sure what Perrine's is..."

"Wow... So many abilities... I guess with you and the other Witches around the world... Maybe this war will end much quicker than I originally thought." My mother said, lightening the mood when she stopped in front of another building. "Ah, we're at my next stop."

I looked up at the building and judged it might be holding some refugee's inside. Venturing inside, I looked around and my guess was spot on as I saw that people were basically settled down where ever. Bedrolls were strewn around against the sides of hallways and in every nook and cranny they could get them in. I followed my mother quite closely as she went up to a door and knocked. A few seconds later a blond haired women opened the door a crack and smiled.

"Ah, Amanda! It's good to see you again!" I noted that she had a very thick Galian accent as she opened the door further.

"It's nice to see you again as well. Do you have anything you want Marie?"

"Ah, nothing today. And might I ask who these two might be?"

"These are the two daughters I've been telling you about."

"Oh my, Josephine! Come here! We've got someone who you want to meet!" She opened the door more and stepped off to the side to show behind her was a girl no older than 6 in a slightly wrinkled sky blue dress. My mother pushed me lightly forwards and I stepped forward before kneeling down to one knee.

"Mommy," she looked up at her mother, "who are these people?"

"They're Witches honey."

"Witches?" She looked up at us with big eyes when I decided to show my familiar feature. The golden eagle ears popped out as usual and the little girls gasped slightly. "C-Can I touch them?"

"Why not." Leaning my head down, she tentatively grasped the tip of my ear and pulled it down slightly before stroking the ear. She let go of it and it popped up straight again and she bowed slightly.

"A Witch..." She looked at me with still those awestricken eyes. "Are you going to free my home from those bad monsters?" I hesitated for a second thinking of what to say before I smiled again.

"I am. I'm going to go and fight those monsters over your home." She gave me a wide smile before running back into the door of her housing.

"I'm going to go play now!" She disappeared inside and I receded my familiar feature before standing up.

"She's never known what Galia was like... We were forced out before she grew up to remember her home..." Marie started to speak. "Do you think you'll be able to liberate our home country?" She looked at me with pleading eyes and I gave her a confident grin.

"In the words of one of my fellow Witches, 'There's nothing a Witch can't do!'"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. You Witches are humanities last hope so may luck be with you to aid you in erasing this blight from our world." We left and on we went from room to room in the house sometimes getting a request for some more supplies from people and my mother wrote them down onto a notebook she carried around with her. From house to house we went until the cock struck noon.

"Aaannnndd, this marks my lunch break. Come on you two! You wouldn't have fulfilled your stay here in London if you didn't have some Fish and Chips!"

"Fish and what now?" Both Blaze and I questioned her before she walked off in an unknown direction. Following behind closely, she stopped in front of a stand which had "Fish n' Chips and Refreshments" printed in bright yellow letters and she addressed the rather large man behind the stand quite kindly.

"Ah! Amanda! Come back to old Wilson's Fish n' Chips stand?"

"Why shouldn't I? You've got some of the best Fish n' Chips in the city."

"Aw, shucks, you're making me blush." He put a hand to his cheek and looked away comically before looking at Blaze and I. "And it looks like we've also got two fine maidens that fight the fight we can't!" He took a closer look at me before rubbing his hand on his chin. "Saaaayyyy, I've seen you before... Ah, that's right! You're that Fire Girl from Liberion that the papers been talking about!"

"That describes me pretty well."

"It's an honor having such a fine Witch visit my Fish n' Chips. What would you three like to order?" He gave us a bright smile.

"Three orders of your finest Fish n' Chips please. And three soft drinks as well please."

"Comin' right up!" He took some news paper and formed it into what seemed to be a basket before scooping some french fries... Or chips if there's any difference... Anyway! He scooped some chips/french fries into the paper rolls before slapping on a nice big piece of deep fried fish. Taking a pinch of salt and sprinkling it on top, he quickly strew some vinegar on top before passing one to each of us. Reaching bellow he pulled out three ice cold refreshments as well and we distributed them among us.

"How much do we owe?"

"For the two heroes behind you? Absolutely free."

"Aw, you're spoiling me to much!" I complained before I looked into the pocket of my jacket, pulling out 50 Pence and gave it to him. "Keep the change and I mean it." I smiled at before the three of us left with him giving his praises to us. Finding a bench in the park, I took my first bite of a chip and I swear my mouth's tastebuds exploded from the pleasurable taste the chips and I nearly melted from bliss as I tried the fish with it as well. Periodically I washed down my bites with a quick swig of my soft drink and soon I had finished the meal, a full belly.

"That was amazing." My sister let out a sigh of content as she had too finished her meal and I gabbed our trash, throwing it away before looking at the time and frowned.

"Well look at the time..." My mother looked up at the large clock tower in the distance and only sighed.

"I guess this means you're leaving?" I nodded my head sadly and she brought me into a hug. "Oh, I will miss you Ember! I can't stand the thought of you dying by one of those... Things!"

"And I won't. I've all ready made a promise that I won't die by them... And now I've made another promise of liberating Galia from Neuroi control as well. You know it's quite hard to win that fight if you're behind friendly lines right?" I gave her a slight wink before she kneeled down and gave Blaze a hug. With the sad farewell we made our way back to the jeep and from there, back to the base to pack our belongings. The ride back to the base wasn't all that bad, except for a slight pang of sadness in my chest of leaving the nuggets that I befriended in my time on base.

'_Heh, I've also started to call them nuggets... I guess the name will stick for a while.'_ I thought before parking the jeep back in the carpool. Killing the engine and returning the keys, I went on to pack my duffel with the clothes I had before waiting for my sister to finish. With everything completed, we both left the barracks and headed to the hanger to be met with a rather large goodbye farewell crowed consisting of all the nuggets and even some staff on base.

"You're leaving?"

"No! You should stay with us!"

"Yeah! Train us!"

"Don't go!" Were some of the words that some of the Witches were saying and I smiled trying to settle everyone down.

"Please, please. Everyone! It pains me to go after my wonderful time here but the front line is calling. It's my home on the front lines and it's the place I'm needed most. Sooner and hopefully later, you too will be there fighting on the front lines, but not without training. You've got two great instructors so you better listen to everything they've said."

"Yes, ma'am!" They all shouted when one of the Witches came forward.

"B-Before your plane arrives... Do you mind signing the Striker you flew in?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "It's sort of a moral booster and it will be shown in a display case on base saying that a great Witch like yourself was here with us!"

"... The plane hasn't arrived yet so why not." Dropping my duffle onto the ground, I walked down over to the Launcher Unit that still had the Striker I used in it. Next to it was some orange paint and I shook my head slightly.

'_They even had some paint prepared for me...'_ Taking the brush, I started to paint in my name on one of the wings. It's no work that an artist could accomplish but it's worthy enough for my hand writing to be on a side of a plane. Smiling at my work, I turned as I heard the drone of twin radial engines of a C47 touching down.

"All right! The C-47's here!" Anne announced as herself, Seris, and two more Witches came into the room. "We need you new recruits to clear out for us to launch!" They all complied and started to shuffle around when I walked up to Anne quite confused.

"What's going on?"

"Command's got some intel that says there might be some enemy activity around your flight path. Predictions say there's a low chance you'll encounter any enemy vessels but they wanted your plane with escorts just in case. You're to valuable of an asset to lose."

"That's settling knowing the power above really cares more about my status in the public than my own life..."

"Well it's a bitch when those two things are linked right?" She gave me a big slap on the back causing me to stumble forward slightly. "But, don't worry. We've got planed a good escort party to fly with you all the way to the 501st base consisting of myself, Seris, Diana, and Julian."

"None of the nuggets are coming?"

"I see that the name stuck. Nope, none of them are experienced enough nor have the stamina to do that long of a distance either so it will be us four." I picked up my duffle as the plane came to a halt and the little staircase popped down for us to climb up and I was glad it was the same pilot that flew me in just a few days ago.

"2nd Lieutenant, your limo has arrived." Seris said passing me with a slight giggle and I rolled my eyes as I got up into the plane. Blaze was all ready buckled into her own seat at the front of the plane and the pilot pulled up the staircase, closing the door.

"Good to have you back aboard 2nd Lieutenant. I hope this ride will be just as smooth as last time." He slid into the captains seat and started the engines up with a roar. Looking out the window, I could see that Seris and Anne were in P-51's while the other two Witches accompanying us were in P-47's. They formed up on the ground with the C47 on the runway and we all took off in formation. For me, the ride was quite tense as we were already quite a ways out of London and we are cruising quite nicely at high altitudes above the clouds. I enjoy the sky and especially when flying in it but right now, it seemed all to threatening. I was very tense as I constantly peered out of the window and everything went to hell as my special ability went into high gear.

"Neuroi detected! Evasive maneuvers immediately!" I shouted and the pilot must have radioed the other Witches as they were flying around in a defensive formation just as the first red hot laser beam arced through the sky, missing the planes wing by just a mere few feet. For such a large aircraft, it maneuvered quite well but it's only a matter of time before we were hit. Unbuckling, I forced my way to the cockpit as the pilot pulled maneuver after maneuver trying to and dodge the laser beams as best as they could. Clamping against the cockpit's entrance, I looked out to see the four Witches go off to engage the enemy.

"What's our time till we reach the 501st base!?" I yelled.

"We've got about 8 minutes of travel time by plane and about 2 minutes via Witch!" He yelled back before mumbling, "Come on baby, hold together for me." I watched as the four other Witches were swarming the oddly shaped Neuroi just kept on coming. I could see the dispersal of the laser as they connected to a shield when I saw one rouge laser reflect off a shield and aimed right at us. The pilot reacted to this and tried to avoid it as much as he could but it still hit the upper part of the left engine setting it afire. "Engine 1 has caught flames! Pull the fire extinguisher handle and shut it down!" He yelled at his copilot as he went through some motions and the copilot pulled a handle on the dash before lowering a lever in the central console between them when he started to panic.

"It's not shutting down! It's not shutting down!" I looked out the window to see the prop was still spitting smoke and fire but I could hear the increase of RPM's before the engine blew up, showering the cockpit with shrapnel. Pinging and scraping of metal being sheared reverberated in the cockpit while I checked my surroundings. Everything behind me was unscathed but the shrapnel made it to through in front of me. I felt a stinging sensation on my cheek and a hot red liquid drop down from it but I didn't care as I went back into the cabin. Blood was splattered over the control panel and the main pilot was whaling in pain.

"Aaaagggghhh!" Pulling forwards I could see a very small glimpse of a medium sized piece of metal sticking out of his gut while the copilot was now completely freaked out.

"Main pilot is down and Engine 1 is out! I repeat, main pilot is down and Engine 1 is out! We're sitting ducks over here!" Looking around I could see the Witches starting to come back to use but the Neuroi was much quicker. I could see it off in the distance. It was shaped like a large arrow head but it's sides were much thicker and it's much wider than any arrow head I've ever saw before. Noting it's direction, estimated speed, and that fact that it wasn't shooting any lasers made me think and once I put two and two together my eyes widened. Reacting as fast as I could, I reached over and grabbed the harness holding the wounded pilot in his seat and used my magical strength to break the buckle before doing the same with the copilot. He looked at me quite confused when I dragged him out of the seat and I was in the middle of dragging the wounded guy out when the Neuroi basically filled up the whole view of the sky in front of us. Everything seemed to go into a slow motion as I watched the black shiny armor of the Neuroi shell blotch out any of the sunlight and time was only resumed as a very violent action shook the whole plane around and was followed up by the high pitched screech of metal shearing apart. I felt weightless as we began to fall with the cockpit, which was completely cleaved off from the main body of the aircraft. With one final tug, and a silent apology to the amount of pain I'm causing to the wounded pilot, we were free falling towards the sea bellow. I could see my sister and the other copilot disappear into the cloud layer and soon I did too when I heard the roar of the Striker engines. Both one of the other Witches and Seris dove down to catch Blaze and the copilot while the Witch, who I think is named Julian, went down and carefully caught the wounded pilot. I soon exited the clouds and I saw Anne had dove past me on accident a few hundred meters away from me and she flattened out coming my direction completely horizontal to the ground.

"Ember!" I was still falling back first and I reached my hand up just as Anne passed over me, her own hand outstretched in my direction waiting to catch me but I only met air. "Ember!" She was going to fast to turn and dive on me and I just kept on falling.

'_Is this... Is this really how I'm going to go out?'_ I could hear the ocean coming closer through the roar of the wind blowing past my ear when I heard what I thought was a very familiar sound... '_Was that...An explosion?'_ Shaking off the thought my mind was racing as I guess what people call "my life flashing before my eyes" when I remembered what I said and what I heard from my day off.

"_Are you going to free my home from those bad monsters?"_ Her words echoed in my head and I had a huge urge to fight against death itself.

"No, I can't die now!" I reached my hand out towards the sky when I heard a familiar buzz of a certain Merlin engine. My momentum suddenly shifted from the vertical to the horizontal and I felt two rather large and soft mounds press against my left arm.

"Wow look! It must be raining Embers today!" Shirley joked as she held me.

"S-Shirley!?"

"Who else?" She smirked at me when I heard Minna yelling through her intercom.

"_Lieutenant! Did you catch her!?"_

"I've got her right here Commander. She's fine and dandy." Reaching up, I plucked the intercom out of her ear and she gave me a slight annoyed expression.

"May I borrow this?"

"For now..."

"I won't be long." Putting it into my ear, I pressed down on it to transmit a message. "Commander! I'm reporting to say I'm doing well but tell me, is Yoshika in the formation that took off?"

"_Oh it's good to hear your voice! The whole base is here so what's the reason for Miyafuji's need?"_

"One of the pilots is critically wounded and I'd like to get him treated."

"_But in the air as well?"_

"He might die if we don't do it now!"

"_All right, Miyafuji! You heard her, locate her and get to the wounded personal!"_

"_Yes ma'am!" _I heard her yell.

"_Everyone else, form up and attack the enemy! Protect Miyafuji at all costs!"_ She ordered and I looked up to see the rest of the formation fly over head before dispersing into their teams and Yoshika flying down to me and she scowled slightly at me.

"Ah, you're hurt again Ember..." She whined and went to try and heal me but I shook my head.

"Save your energy for now Yoshika. There's a patients in more need than me." Pulling the intercom out of my ear, I gave it back to Shirley before we went to go find the Witch with the wounded pilot. Finding her quickly, Yoshika went on to look him over when he spoke through breaths.

"Am I... Am I going to... To die?" When Yoshika spoke up.

"No, you're going to live." She looked up at me with a face of determination. "I need that piece of shrapnel removed before I start healing him." I looked over at the pilot whose face was contorted with pain before nodding.

"This might hurt a bit... Please bare with me for a few seconds." Using my magic, I tightly gripped the piece of metal that was visible and started to slow pull out. The pilot started to give out groans and grunts of pain before he gasped as I pulled the piece free.

"Agh!" With it free, Yoshika went to work healing him up. Shirley backed off to give her room and I looked in wonder as the blue aura enveloped his body. Looking up, I heard the familiar pop of a the Boys Rifle and I saw the .55 caliber bullet shear its way through the Neuroi and said Neuroi let out a scream and sent out laser in multiple directions when I heard my sisters voice in my head.

"_Ember! Are you all right!?"_ I heard her voice in my head and I chuckled lightly as I pulled up a shield, blocking one of the beams.

'_Well, I can't really answer you there Blaze... It's only a one way connection...'_ I thought when I heard her voice again.

"_Oh yeah... One way telepathy..."_ Looking around, I saw Seris fly towards my with Blaze in her arms and I waved at her as she flew up to me.

"Sup." I flicked my wrist off to the side with my index and middle finger out in greeting.

"Jesus- I thought we lost for a second Ember!"

"Well, I'm alive and kicking Dirt Mound!" She started to glare at me.

"I'd punch you right now if I didn't have my hands full." She grumbled before looking up at the Neuroi just as it got pounded by a salvo of rocket fire from Sanya's Fleigerhammer. From the looks of it, it blasted half of it's wing off revealing the core and Erica charged in guns ablaze shattering the core thus destroying the Neuroi. It performed its natural core destruction ritual of bursting into it's white flakes and Seris whistled slightly. "It's such a beautiful view seeing these white flakes fall. Though, that's your new squadron Ember?" She asked me and I nodded.

"Yep. This is the 501st Joint Fighter Wing at their finest."

"Such power... And from what I can guess, you've also got a wide ranges of aces going from Suomus, Karlsland, Liberion of course, Romagna, Orussia, I guess Gallina, Britannian... And even Fuso."

"Ding, ding, ding, we've got a winner over here!"

"Heh."

"Ah, enough chatter you two." Shirley cut us both off as she started to fly up towards the large formation of Witches. Minna spotted us as well approached the group and she flew up to meet us.

"Other than that cut on your cheek, are you all right Ember?" She asked and I nodded, giving her a thumbs up.

"Other than losing the clothes I brought with me to London, I'm quite fine. Though it was a rather close call back there with Shirley."

"Well, if I didn't go supersonic, I'm pretty sure that you'd be sinking to the bottom of the ocean... And I wouldn't want you sleeping with the fishes."

"Way to put it in such a bleak way... Though what do you mean by you wouldn't want me sleeping with the fishes?" I questioned her and I could see her cheeks warm up to a very light pink.

"W-Well... What I mean by that is uh... I-I don't want another fellow Liberion to be killed in action!" She stuttered out and I raised my eyebrow to that.

"Oh really now?" I wanted to question her more when Minna put her hand to her intercom.

"All right, mission complete! Everyone return to base! You other four Witches can accompany us to our base until another transport plane arrives. You two pilots will be staying at the offsite base where the other base personal live for the time being."

"Roger that!" Everyone shouted in unison and we all started back towards the base. A vehicle was waiting on the runway when we finally arrived over the base and both Diana and Julian dropped off the two pilots right next to the vehicle and the two of them gave their praises with the wounded pilot thanking Yoshika especially for saving his life. Dropping out of Shirley's arms, I stretched my legs again, quite thankful I was back on the ground again and I noticed Minna seemed to loosen up quite a bit once she saw the two pilots leave the base. Why she seemed that way, I have no clue. Yoshika was currently healing up the cut on my cheek when I overheard Trude talking with Seris and Anne.

"So that Neuroi just straight up rammed the transport plane?"

"Yeah, it did. Was slightly off from a direct hit on the cockpit but it did shear the upper part and some of the right wing off from the rest of the body and the Neuroi looked as if nothing happened to it after the impact."

"Jeez, the Neuroi sounded like was designed to be a Sonderkommando... Well, at least the pilots and the planes occupancy weren't damaged by the attack." She let out a breath in relief just as Yoshika finished healing me up. She looked quite tired after she finished and I helped her back to her room where she promptly fell asleep. Making my way back to the hanger, all the Witches that were staying for a slight visit was ogling at my Striker and all their heads instantly snapped in my direction as I stepped out into the hanger. I could feel their gazes piercing through my soul and I sweat dropped slightly as I continued towards them.

"This-"

"Is-"

"Your-"

"STRIKER!?" Both Anne and Seris yelled at me.

"I can understand Anne being surprised but you too Seris? I'd think you'd at least take a peak to see what it was like..."

"Hey, I'm not that nosey! But, this..." She ran her hand over one of the swept back wings. "This, is something different."

"I guess a top grade Witch like yourself deserves a top grade Striker." Diana said when Minna entered the hanger.

"Ah, there you four are." The four of them stood at attention immediately. "At ease everyone. You don't need to be as uptight around here. You're our guests in the 501st so don't be as stiff."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Anyway, command can't get another transport plane down here today so you'll be staying the night here. Accommodations are set for you all to sleep in and dinner will be served in about an hour or so. With todays contact, there won't be another Neuroi sighting for a while so take the day off. That will be all." The others saluted and Minna walked off again back to her office when Anne laid an arm over my shoulder giving me a sly smile.

"Say, now that I've seen your Striker... Mind if I take it on a joy ride?"

"Well... Magic consumption is a bit higher than any regular Striker and you just finished up with flying all the way from London and being in combat so I don't know... Plus, I don't know what kind of condition it's in so-" I was stopped mid sentence when I felt two rather soft lumps press against my back and another arm over my shoulder.

"If she gets to ride in your Striker than I want to have a go at it as well Ember!" Shirley whined and I sighed.

"Fine! Shirley, you can go first while Anne rests a little longer... Though, _**after **_I check over the Striker to see if anything's wrong with it." I rubbed one of my temples and Shirley cheered while Anne glared holes in me. Going to work of opening up the Striker, I made a mental note of how clean everything was, how the parts that needed oiling were thoroughly soaked, everything's tuned up, and it looked as if it just rolled off the factory line. Letting out a whistles as I closed up the hatch I turned to Shirley.

"Well, I see you kept my Firebird in amazing shape."

"You said I could tinker with it so I tinkered with it!" She gave a large smile and I chuckled lightly. "Plus, I couldn't just leave such a magnificent machine un attended to for three days!"

"Right right, go on and jump in for your joy ride."

"WITH PLEASURE!" I watched as Shirley skipped over to my Striker and jumped right in, instantly letting the Rolls Royce Merlin engines roar to life. She detached from the Launcher Unit and off she went into the sky. Running out of the hanger, she was all ready climbing high into the sky and Seris whistled. She soon was out of regular viewing distance of any unassisted eye and the five of us followed the contrail before she went into a dive and leveled about even to us. Knowing what was coming up, she buzzed by us just as she broke the sound barrier. Anne, Seris, Diana, and Julia covered their ears and looked around in confusion as I just stood still with a sight smile.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Anne yelled at me and I giggled lightly.

"That, my friend, is what we call exceeding the speed of sound." They looked at me bewildered and shook their heads.

"I thought that only one Witch could..."

"Nope, Shirley and myself are the only ones that have the ability to surpass Mach 1 at the moment." A few seconds later, Shirley landed down, a very large dreamy smile on her face as she landed.

"Ember... I want your Striker..." She said as I grabbed the legs for her to jump out of.

"Sorry Shirley. They aren't up for trade anytime soon!" I joked when Anne climbed in and took off. The rest of the day went on like that as Seris, Diana, and Julia tried it out. As everyone took their turns on the Firebird express, Shirley and myself busied ourselves by checking over the visitors Strikers. With their permission of course and I let Shirley handle the Mustangs while I broke in my rusty Thunderbolt maintenance skills. I always forgot how heavy the Thunderbolt really is and how large the thing was but also how large and powerful the engine really is. Finishing up basically at the same time as Diana came back in from her ride, I asked her to dock the Striker unit. With her docked, she came towards us and peaked over my shoulder as I tightened the last bolt and locked the Striker in when the lights went dark.

"Huh? Who turned off the lights?" Shirley asked aloud when I heard a squeal of surprise.

"Ah- AAAHH! W-Who grabbed me there!?" Seris yelled out in surprise and I sweat dropped.

'_The darkness and in an enclosed area... The natural hunting grounds of the rare Romagnian Boob Shark!'_ I thought when I heard Anne yelled as well.

"S-Some one gropped me as well! WHO DID THAT!?" On went the squeals of surprise as I walked over to the wall, trying to find the light switch. Finding it, I flipped the Switch and there stood Lucchini hands on her chin and foot tapping as she thought and the four guests were blushing a ton with what just happened.

"Number one... Consolation prize... Just as flat as Yoshika!" She addressed Seris and she scowled as she covered her chest with her arms. "Number two!... Small but firm as well... Four out of Ten!" Anne followed Seris's example and folded arms over her chest and stuck her tongue out at her. "Numero three! Large and firm! Seven out of ten!" Diana took the compliment slightly but still scowled at Lucchini. "And number four! Not as big as three but soft! Six out of ten! But in the end..." She buried her face into Shirley's chest. "SHIRLEY WINS! TWENTY OUT OF TEN!"

"Why I ought a-" I put my hand on Anne's shoulder trying to calm her down.

"Yeah, don't mind it... It's a common thing heeerrrRRREEEE." I felt hands slip onto my own chest and I felt my face heat up as a blush formed on my cheeks.

"Oooohhhh~ Ember, you've grown!~" Lucchini cheered. Reaching around, I tried to grab the little Romagian but she fled and started to climb onto the iron girders above and disappeared.

"A common occurrence huh?" Seris said. "Well, it could be worse..."

"Now, do you mind showing us to our rooms?" Diana asked and I nodded. Showing them down to their room they nodded quite satisfied with their accommodations when Lynne walked up a bit nervous announcing the dinner was ready. Down to the dinner hall we went and an extra table was set up for the extra guests. Taking my own serving of Natto, rice, and the other items served at dinner before sitting down at the second table. Shirley joined me along with the other guests and we talked some about back home about where we came from back in Liberion. After giving their praises to Yoshika about her cooking, I took them down to the large bathroom and took in a dip. Seris groped her own chest before staring at Shirley's, my own, and Diana's before sighing.

"Why won't they grow..." She groaned as she slipped bellow the water to the point where her eyes are only above the surface.

"Drink your milk and they're sure to grow as big as my own~." Shirley boasted as she fondled with her own slightly and I felt slightly aroused by this sight for some reason. I stared slightly at her chest when Anne asked a question, breaking my train of sight.

"Hey, where's Blaze? I haven't seen her since we've landed."

"Right. Where did your sister go exactly?" Seris joined in.

"Blaze? She fell asleep the second we got back here to go back to her night time schedule."

"That quickly? I wish I could just fall asleep anytime I wanted..." Julia sighed.

"Hey, Ember, mind getting my back for me?" Shirley asked and turned around so her back faced me.

"Sure." Slightly swimming over, I took the soap and started to scrub down her back. I ran the soap over her back and shoulders before rubbing away with my hands.

'_Her skin is so soft to the touch and the curves she has... Wait, why am I having these type of thoughts about her?' _I thought when I finished up. Once we were all washed up, I said my goodnights to our little group of Liberions and I passed my sister just as she left for the night shift. I scowled slightly since my nightgown was currently either burned up when the rest of the plane either exploded, or it might have sunk to the bottom of the sea. Stripping down to nothing, I climbed into the bed quite happy how the soft linens felt against my skin.

'_So soft... Maybe I should go completely bare more often when sleeping.'_ I thought as I drifted off into sleep. The very next day, another transport plane landed on base and I saw our guests off after breakfast. Everyone on base, that was currently awake, saw off our guests. The drone of the Striker's engines mixed with the radial engines in the C-47 as they took off and as soon as they were in the sky, people started to dissipate and go own to do their own daily routine and it was soon just Shirley and myself standing at the hanger's entrance.

"It's nice knowing you've got friends like that." Shirley said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah..."

"Other than Pearl Harbor, Liberion doesn't really have any Neuroi presence that are of any major threat so Liberion Witches aren't really in any high demand.

"Mmmmhhh." I stood there with her and she seemed to have scooted a little closer to me but I didn't mind. We both looked off in the direction the plane and Witches took off towards when Shirley let out a sigh.

"Well, we're some of the examples of Liberion's contribution to the war effort so lets make the best for good old Uncle Sam right Ember?" I looked at her with a smile.

"Of course Shirley. Say, we're not on alert for any Neuroi activity for some time, want to go use the base's sauna?"

"I'd love to! Aaahhh, it's been for ever since I've used the sauna! I completely forgot we had one!" With a smile, we both went on to the sauna and enjoyed the rest of the day doing what ever needed to be done around the base.

* * *

**And here's Chapter 8... Not 100% sure if I got the price for the Fish n' Chips correct and I'm to lazy to go and check to see if the Price is Right but 50 pence sounds like a good deal for the time... I think... ANYWAY! ****Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	9. Chapter 9

_**Ember's POV:**_

It's been over a week since I got back from my vacation and there's been only one other Neuroi sighting that whole time. Erica scored that kill and to our surprise it marked her 250th kill. I currently have a score of about 147 and I have noticed that my kills in per ever 20 Neuroi sightings have gone down quite substantially since merging into this new unit. Though there's no problem in seeing why since it's composed with of some of the worlds best Aces. Though in the week I've been back, I've been a bit unrestful. Some nights I've barely slept and others I couldn't sleep what so ever. Tonight was another night that I couldn't get any sleep as I tossed and turned in my bed, thinking over what I said to Josephine back in London.

"_I am. I'm going to go and fight those monsters over your home."_ My words echoed in my head when I sat up and looked down at my sheets.

'_Can I really liberate Gallia? All we've done so far is halt the Neuroi advance over the Isle and I don't know if there's plans that would involve a counter attack.'_ Pulling on my lingeries and uniform on, I opened my door with a creak and walked towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Pouring and gulping down the glass, I was set to leave when the lights turned on. I stiffened slightly and looked around before relaxing slightly at the sight of a certain orange haired Liberion.

"Shirley... What are you doing here?"

"I'd like to ask you the same thing Ember." She said pushing off the wall she was leaning up against. "I've been noticing that you've seemed... Off a bit since your return."

"Eh? I don't feel any different from when I left." I lied. "No one else has said anything about it either so-"

"You're making up excuses and that's not like you what so ever." She cut me off and I was getting slightly irritated.

"Maybe I am, but that doesn't mean that-"

"Your everyday habits are off as well."

"Maybe I changed around how I operate in the day..." I said a bit quieter and started to step back away from her but she took a step forward as well.

"You've been distancing yourself from other, you've been more restless, and what struck me most is how a high end mechanic is slacking off in her job!" I looked away from her knowing that she had caught me red handed and I let out a sigh.

"Fine... You caught me..." I didn't want to make eye contact with her but I looked up as she took my hands into her own.

"So tell me, what's wrong?" I chewed the bottom of my lip before looking around the kitchen.

"Will you join me on a walk outside? I'll tell you out there." With a slight nod we walked out into the night. The air was moist and cool and there were a few clouds scattered around in the sky. Stars speckled the black night time sky and everything was light by the moon in a dark, yet clear, blue hue. We both started to walk towards one of the forested areas on base when I started to talk. "What's been on my mind is... Is a promise I made to a little girl."

"A little girl?"

"She's no older than six and is a refugee from Gallia..." I paused waiting if she had any questions and I took her silence as none so I continued. "She asked me if I was here to liberate Gallia from the 'Monsters' and I said I would but..."

"You're starting to have some doubts as whither you will be able to keep that promise?" She hit the nail right on the head.

"Yeah..." We came out to a clearing in the trees where it nearly made a perfect circle around a bed of grass. Standing in the center with Shirley I sighed. "I said it at the time to make her happy and I meant it as well! But... When I look at the scale now... How can a single Witch take on an entire Neuroi hive?"

"But, you aren't just a single Witch taking on the Neuroi!" She grabbed my shoulders and looked deeply into my eyes. Her blue eyes stared into my red ones and she smiled. "You've got your friends, everyone in the 501st, and then you've got me." A slight blush formed on my cheeks when she said that.

"Shirley..." We just stood there and I felt my heart start to beat faster every second.

"If everything else fails, I will still be by your side fighting the Neuroi. Down to the last bullet, down to the last ounce of strength I have, I will fight with you." A cloud must have covered the moon for everything turned much darker when I felt her brought me into a hug and started to whisper into my ear. "With the 501st and all of the other Witches around the world, I'm sure your promise will be held in liberating Gallia. You're not alone in this fight Ember so don't try and shoulder this large ass burden all by your lonesome." Light started to return to the clearing as the cloud moved on and Shirley pulled away from the embrace with herself still covered in the shadow. With the cloud fully gone, her face was finally light up and I could see she had this smile that made my heart warm.

"You're right... I've only been thinking about myself when it comes to this situation... Thank you Shirley."

"Hey! Us Liberions are in a foreign country! We must stick together right?"

"Right."

"Though I didn't do this just because we're of the same nationality, but we're also friends."

"Of course Shirley." I could feel my mind clear of any worries and all the stress in my body seemed to be lifted while being around her. In the time, I also finally noticed how beautiful of a night it was. I felt her hands leave my shoulder and I looked at her as she turned to leave but I grabbed onto her jacket sleeve effectively stopping her. "Hey, it's a beautiful night tonight and this is the prime location to see it in. And... I-I'd like to spend this moment with you."

"Oh?" She looked around and nodded her head. "Sure... We're here and who knows how many more times it will be like this so might as well take it while we go." We both laid down in the soft grass, our heads next to each other as stared up into the night sky. I started to relax as I stared into the night sky and everything just seemed much happier while I was around her.

"I wonder..." I said aloud as I looked up into the sky.

"Hm?"

"I wonder if... There's other universes like this one."

"Bah, Ember, don't go all philosophical on me here."

"I'm serious Shirley! What if there was really other universes out there... Do you imagine that they have the same problems we have?" She was silent for a moment before she answered.

"If there are ones similar to ours... Then I'm sure they might have the same problems as ours..."

"A universe where there were such things as a male Witch... Or a single male Witch at that."

"And I would hope that single male Witch was a stud and a looker heehee."

"Or maybe a universe where there's Witches that far exceed our power levels. You know, powers that would seem almost godlike compared to ours? Tch, I'm rambling on aren't I? I must sound like some lunatic spouting all of nonsense." I shook my head slightly with a light chuckle when Shirley spoke up again.

"Maybe you are one. But then again... The Neuroi exist and we still have no clue what they are and why they are here so different universes might be plausible as well..." Silence returned to us as we watched four red and green lights fly across the sky and I pointed it out to Shirley. She chuckled slightly as the two Night Witches passed over us when she spoke up.

"I wonder what it's like to be in the shoes of some other Witch other than myself." I turned my head to face her and she had a rather gloomy face on.

"Why's that?"

"Well... We're both from Liberion so we don't know what it feels like to have our home taken from us..." I frowned slightly and looked back up into the sky as she continued. "Trude, Erica, Minna, Sanya, Eila, and all other Witches from the majority of Europe and Orrusia have lost their home countries... They're all Aces in Exile fighting over the Isle or in other theaters of war to protect what's free from Neuroi control... I wonder what it's like to be in their shoes fighting for what they've lost..."

"Yeah," is all I could muster out as I thought when I let out a yawn and sat up. "Thanks for the talk Shirley. It calmed me down a bunch."

"Hey, no problem. Tonight was pretty fun as well. Maybe we should have some more night time chats and star gazing?"

"Definitely." Returning back inside, I fell into my bed like a bunch of bricks as soon as I was out of my uniform and I slept like an absolute baby.

* * *

"_Where am I?" I looked around, trapped while floating in an open space, surrounded by darkness on all six sides._

"_You have yet to discover your true powers Ember." I heard a voice echo through out the space and I looked around trying to find the source of the sound._

"_Who are you!? How do you know my name!?"_

"_You have yet to reach your full potential Ember. If you don't discover your true power," faces of all my friends from my training mates, the nuggets, every member of the 501st started to appear around me when it continued, "then everything you are close to and love will disappear." Everything was soon consumed by fire and I found myself facing a burning 501st base. The main castle that served as our headquarters was demolished, the hanger collapsed and the runway crumbling away into the sea. All the foliage was up in a blaze and I saw a lone metal object floating above the base. I couldn't make out the details from the distance I was at but I could tell that it looked almost man made with steel or aluminum skinning and it wasn't shaped like any Neuroi I've ever seen... But I saw the red glint of a Neuroi core. My heart jumped as I made the horrifying realization as a large red laser beam blasted me head on and all I could see is red._

* * *

I woke up from the nightmare with a gasp and was breathing quite heavily when I started to calm down.

"It's all right Ember... It was only a dream. It was only a dream..." With my heart rate returning to normal, a wave of tiredness swept over me and I fell backwards in my bed and closed my eyes again when I heard the bugle sound off for the morning call. "Wake up time all ready?... Oh yeah... Then there's that award ceremony going on as well..." Rolling out of bed quite literally, I started to get dressed and I sighed since I was down to my last pair of pants.

"Jeez, why does laundry day have to be today..." I grumbled as I pulled them on and headed for the door when a rather suspected and unsuspected visitor came through the door... Well, more like Blaze just straight up passed out into my arms from tiredness just as I opened the door and I caught her. "You need a coffee flask of something to go up with you and Sanya to keep you awake longer..." I whispered as I carried her to her bed. Closing the door, everyone was sort of rushing around and I guess I wasn't the only one that had slept in. I couldn't blame anyone since it's going to be our day off and an award ceremony for Erica. Though judging by all the yelling from whom I'm guessing is originating from Trude, I think that Erica might be pulling the, "70 more minutes" drill with her. Letting out a slight yawn I didn't really bother much with doing all of my morning workout and I just went on a jog instead. It might be a day off from work, but it doesn't mean that I should slack up on my exercise. Around the base I went and I found myself passing by a familiar little spot I spent time with Shirley last night. The grass still matted slightly where both Shirley and I spent our time in and I smiled lightly, taking a slight breather as I stood around and looked up at the blue sky before continuing my jog. Through the forest I continued and I could hear Yoshika's and Mio's voice in the distance on the edge of the forest. Detouring slightly, I got closer to the noise and I slowed down slightly as I saw Mio and Yoshika swinging wooden swords as a certain blond haired Gallian watched.

"Put your back into it!"

"Yes ma'am!" Slowing my breathing as I watched from the forest, quite amused how even today Mio's pushing Yoshika harder everyday.

"Pull back harder!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Sword and mind as one! This sword is not meant to defeat the enemy! Understand, Miyafuji?"

"No, ma'am!"

"All right! 100 more swings, then!"

'_Well... At least she's training hard...'_ A slight smirk crept onto my face as I watched her continue swinging and stepping around. _'She will make a very fine and powerful Witch in a few months with how much effort she is putting into training.'_ I was going to leave when I saw a familiar blond haired Gallian spying on the two Fussians. Sneaking up behind her, I was going to surprise her when a sneaky little Romagian tried to get me again.

"Guess who!~" Having past experience with expert boob devils like Lucchini, I came to expect some sneak attacks like these and her flipping upside down from a tree branch is among the top three effective ways in getting what they want. Doing some fancy foot work, I avoided her grabby arms and got behind her.

"Pay back time.~" Reaching my hands around, I grasped her chest and said person whined and squirmed around before falling out of the tree.

"Ah, wah!" To be honest, I also forgot Perrine was among us since the little devil tried to pull a fast one on me. "When did you two get here!?"

"Oh! Perrine! Lucchini! Ember! What's going on?" I looked behind me and I saw that Yoshika and Mio were looking in our direction and I scratched the back of my head.

"Well, I was out for a late morning jog and I stopped by here to see what's with the noise... That's when I ran into these two..."

"That tree is where I was sleeping from..." Lucchini grumbled as she sat up rubbing the spot she fell on her head. "I can't believe someone reversed it on me again... That makes two times Ember! Not many people can do that with me so you're worthy!"

"What I'm doing? Well, I..." Perrine started to act the weird way she does whenever she's around Mio and I only shook my head.

"... Did I just receive a compliment for boob grabbing?"

"Lucchini gave her praise to you... That's something I thought I'd never see..." Mio shook her head slightly before looking back at Yoshika. "Miyafuji. You're not swinging."

"Huh? Oh, right!"

"Um... Please, let me join in!" Perrine all of a suddenly yelled and Mio's face brightened up at that slightly... Though I have a feeling it's a different reason than what Perrine might be thinking.

"Oh, training? Sure! That's very commendable!" Yoshika even seemed to brighten up as well.

"Great!"

"Lucchini! You come, too!" Mio called out to Lucchini as she stood up.

"HUH!?"

"You can join us as well Ember." She looked towards me and I stretched my arms out ready for what ever she might throw at me.

"Sure, why not. I'd like to see how your own training works outside of the usual." And on went the training. Lucchini was groaning the whole time grumbling why she had to do training on a day off. I rather enjoyed it since it was a bit more intensive than what I usually went through and I guess it was also building on our endurance. Perrine wasn't doing as bad either though I guess she was fueled by some sort of desire to be close with her "Major" for the day. First she started off with everyone doing the same drills to what I guess, gage our endurance and I finished rather early compared to the rest. In the down time between the drill however, I noticed Minna and Lynne driving off to I guess a nearby town to get something, but I didn't ponder the thought as Mio yelled at me to move onto the next exercise. Though in the end, I was breathing much harder than I thought I would be after the drills.

"Jeez Mio," I said through my pants, "You really know how to push ones body."

"The way of the warrior means that you have to push ourselves each time you work and thus, each time you will grow!" She let out proudly. "Now everyone to the bath house. You all deserve such thing after the work out here." Bending backwards, stretching my back, and whipping the sweat off my brow, I only nodded in agreement.

"A bath sounds rather nice now." Off we went to the bath house and as I guessed, Lucchini and Yoshika were the first ones to strip and run into the bath.

"Bath! Bath!"

"Yay! Bath!" I heard the two cry out and each was followed quickly by a splash of water. Mio, Perrine, and myself on the other hand weren't as hasty to get into the bath.

"There's nothing better than washing off the sweat after training!" Mio declared as she unbuttoned her uniform and Perrine, as usual, was staring at her.

"I-I-Indeed." She started to have that look on her face as she entered one of her fantasies but I paid no mind as I grabbed my towel and joined Mio and the others in the bath. The feeling of the warm water never gets old and each time I slid into it, I feel like all the burdens of the world are lifted off of my shoulders.

"Aaaaahhhh, this will never get old..." I let my body go loose and I laid my head back with my eyes closed.

"Yes, the bath will never get old. It's the perfect place to just get into after a hard days work." Mio commented.

"This, and the bases sauna." I added and Mio let out one of her hearty laughs.

"Yes, I can agree on that." I just soaked in the warm heat of the hot water as Yoshika and Lucchini went on to wash up completely in the showers and finally Perrine came into the room with a little haste.

"Well, look who finally showed up." I chuckled lightly as I saw her jogging through and I closed my eyes again relaxing.

"It's so foggy, that I can't see where I'm going- WAAAAHHHH!"

"Huh?" Opening my eyes, I only caught a split second as she slipped into the air and a bar of soap went flying into the sky before she landed with a splash into the water. A guesser of water erupted where she landed and I got soaked by it, though I didn't mind slightly.

"A-A-All right! Who left the soap on the floor!?" She started to growl and I pulled my hair out of my eyes to see she was within Mio's arms.

"Are you okay?" She asked calmly and Perrine started to stutter.

"U-Umm... Uhh... I'm very sorry!" She scrambled out of her arms quickly while Mio looked quite confused with her reaction. "Umm... Do you mind if I join you, ma'am?"

"Sure, go ahead! You don't need to worry about ranks while bathing!"

"Ah, come on Perrine! Learn to loosen up a bit right? You don't need to be this tense around her all the times right."

"And I'm sorry Perrine!" Yoshika yelled out. "I accidentally dropped my soap..." She twitched slightly and I started to give her a very light glare though I don't think she noticed.

"Honestly, now! You're absolutely, positively, umm..." Her face was starting to turn red. "Thank you..."

"Huh?" On the outside, I only had a smile though on the inside, I was basically laughing my ass off by her reaction.

"_Guehehehehe! Oh, it's never a dull moment between when it comes to Mio, Yoshika, and Perrine mixing together!' _I thought. Lucchini was the first one to finish up and left and soon Perrine followed suit leaving Mio, Yoshika, and myself in the bath just relaxing.

"So, Ember! I've always wanted to ask, but what it's like in Liberion!" Yoshika suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Liberion? Well, it's been for ever since I last been back home so things might have changed but let see... From what I remember, it's much different than it is like here in Britannia. Where I lived was in a small city in California."

"Oh! And where's that?"

"It's a state on the western coast of Liberion. I lived there for many years and it's quite nice. Everyone I knew was nice and the community was also quite friendly, but like every nation, we have our faults..." I said quite gloomy. "Racism is still a pretty large problem in Liberion but I think this war might help clear it up."

"Oh..."

"Liberion isn't the only nation that suffers from racism as well. I'm not sure how bad it is in other nations, but in Fuso, some people would treat Ember, as an example, differently than how they would treat you when you're growing up. They'd treat her as a gaijin, a foreigner."

"But... I'm sure people can look past each others race and except them right?" Yoshika spoke out. "I mean, it's all ready happening in this squadron since we've got people from all over the world!"

"Yeah, you do have a point there. But, I say it's time to get out of the water. There's only a certain amount of time that's good for your body to be in it, but to much time is bad for it." Getting out of the water, I grabbed a towel to dry ourselves off and I wrapped one around my hair to dry it off while I wrapped the other one around my body. Following Mio and Yoshika out, we came to a rather weird sight of Perrine and a swimming suit in her hand. "What are you doing?" Mio asked her and she stiffened slightly.

"That's mine..." Yoshika let out silently.

* * *

_**Perrine's POV:**_ _**2 minutes before hand**_

'_Ah, it was nice to be with the Major.~'_ I thought to myself as I stepped out of the bathing area. Walking over to my clothes, some object seemed to be missing. "Huh?" I looked though my pile of clothes but a certain article of clothing was missing. "Huh? Huh!? HUH!?" Reaching the bottom, I pulled away with shock as I discovered which piece of my clothes were missing. "My pants! They're-" I cut myself short and I coughed into my hand regaining my composure.

"N-No, it's nothing!..." Pulling on my bra and shirt, U pulled on my stockings but my mind was racing.

'_Calm down, Perrine Clostermann! An upper-class lady of Gallia mustn't lose control over something like this!' _I buttoned up my shirt though I'm starting to have second thoughts about it all. _'Yes! S-S-So what if I'm missing my pants!?'_ I was getting so worked up over this that even my familiar features came out and my tail whipped around as I gave up slightly.

"I-I just can't relax like this... Isn't there anything else I can use?" I finally gave in and looked around slightly when I spotted Ember's green one sitting in one of the baskets. "Could I..." Walking over to them, I picked them up and stared at them for a second before shaking my head and putting them down.

"No, no, no, no! I was all ready on slippery ground with her with my interactions between Miyafuji so I don't want her to get even more mad at me if I used her pants!" Looking around some more, I lay eyes on a certain swim suit. "Oh! Th-These are the Major's...!" My hand started to reach out automatically as I kept on talking out loud to myself. "Wh-What are you thinking? I would never do anything like that! I can't simply take them..." My mind started to wander. "I can't simply take them! No, I would never do that...!" I started to go through one of my fantasies and I guess I did grab them after all and my sheer happiness was broken as I was turned. Facing the door, Yoshika was looking at me as I held the pants. "Uh... Uh, uh..." Then, oh no, the Major just saw me with them as well!

"What are you doing?"

"Ah!"

"That's mine..." I dropped what I though was the Major's pair of pants and they crumpled into a heap on the floor.

"S-S-Something is going on here!" I said, pointing down at the clothing trying to dodge this bullet and I guess it worked.

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

"Something's is going on here." Trude announced as we all stared at Yoshika's folded clothing on the table.

"Umm... Can I have my clothes back?"

"No, this is material evidence." I had grabbed a plate full of the food of the boiled potatoes and was eating away.

"Huh? But..." Swallowing, I pointed my fork at Yoshika.

"Don't you have an extra pair of pants to wear?" She only shook her head.

"The others need to be cleaned! And still..." She had been holding her uniform lower than usual and I guess it also registered to everyone else. Took them a second but they knew why.

"So you don't have anything on? In that case, you can borrow mine." Trude started to take off her pair of pants when Yoshika cried out.

"Eeeehh! Please, wait!" Though she had all ready pulled them mostly off.

"Don't hold back to be polite."

"I-I _will_ hold back!" I took another bite of my food when Mio put her officers coat over Yoshika's shoulders.

"Hold on. Make do with this for now."

"Ms. Sakamoto... Thank you!" Looking around the room, I didn't see Eila any where else and both Lucchini and Erica were eating away at the food that was provided when Trude spoke up again, pulling up her pants.

"Why would you want to hold back? What a strange person. All right, let's get down to business! Why did Perrine's pants go missing in the first place?"

"Maybe she wasn't wearing any to begin with?" Shirley asked slightly and I chocked a little on the food I had in my mouth and Perrine just exploded.

"Y-You know I wouldn't do that!"

"Which means it's very likely that someone stole them." Taking my last bite of my food, I noticed Lucchini was acting quite weird.

"So the question is this. Who was in the changing room before Lieutenant Clostermann...?"

"Hey, uuuhhh... Francesca, you all right? You're acting kind of weird..." Everyone looked turned to look at her before I put two and two together but Trude beat me to the chase.

"2nd Lieutenant Francesca Lucchini!"

"Gyaha!" And there she went... She's running...

"She ran away!" And the chase has begun. Around she went in the room and I jumped up from my chair running with Shirley and Trude when I heard Perrine cry out.

"Those are mine!"

"Wait, stop!"

'_Like that's going to make her stop after she ran...'_ I thought. We all started to go around in circles around the table when she stumbled slightly and laid her hands on Yoshika's clothing.

"Ah! That's mine!"

"Huh? Ehgege!" And she started to run again... This time with Yoshika's clothing and I'm starting to think this will be a rather long day for us.

"Get back here!" And out of the dinning room she went.

"I'm sorry!" She whined.

"Well if you're sorry then stop damn it!"

"You want to make things worse!?" She rounded another corner and that lead us outside of the base.

"Which way did she go?!"

"Uuuhh... I dunno..."

"This way then." I pointed and both Shirley, Trude, and I started to run in that direction, searching high and low for her but I sighed. "This base is absolutely huge and coupled with the fact that Lucchini can basically get anywhere... This is going to be a busy day..."

"And just as I was going to work on my Merlins!"

"You always work on your Striker, Liberion..."

"Ah, over there!" I pointed out and there Lucchini was standing and she started to run again.

"Stop!"

"Come on Francisca! Give it up all ready!" And back in doors we went after her. Down the halls, we looked over every possible hiding place Lucchini would be when we ran into Eila.

"Where's Lucchini?"

"She escaped down to a floor bellow."

"Then lets go after her!" Eila joined our little search party but something was eating away at me about Eila's attire.

"Hey, EIla, aren't your tights usually white?"

"Uhhh... Not the right time to talk about that!" She quickly covered up when we spotted Lucchini down a hallway.

"There she is!"

"Hey, you! Give them back theif!"

"But I'm not a thief!" She yelled and started to run again down another hallway to the outside.

"Then stop running and give everything back!" Rounding the corner, we continued on outside but the base is just so big. "Who knew that when a pair of pants go missing, on laundry day as well, can cause such a hassle." I groaned.

"Can things get any worse!?" Yoshika yelled out loud when the air raid siren went off. "The warning siren!?"

"An enemy attack!?"

"Prepare for take off!"

"Roger!"

"Well continue this search after we deal with the enemy." We all ran towards the hanger though I'm sensing some problems as we get there.

"M-Ms. Sakamoto! I'm not wearing any pants!"

"Neither am I..."

"It's no problem! This is a mission! No one's watching up in the sky!" I'm all ready in my own Striker with the light magazine sling strapped on and my weapon in hand waiting for take off when Sanya came into the hanger.

"I'm taking off to."

"Wah, S-Sanya!" Anyone could notice the lack of tights on Sanya.

"Huh? Those are my pants, Eila." And I face palmed lightly and Sanya started to try and pull the pants off while Eila was wearing them.

"That's mean, telling me to take them off!"

"But they're mine..."

"Ms. Sakamoto! It's breezy down there!"

"Just bear with it Miyafuji!"

"Roger..." I was standing next to Shirley, my gun over my shoulder and Trude seemed to be pretty ticked off.

"What are these people doing? Lets move out! Everyone, follow me!"

"Understood," Shirley lazily said and I started to take off in formation with Trude when Minna stepped in the way.

"Wait, everyone!"

"Commander Minna!"

"But Minna, the Neuroi-"

"There is no Neuroi. It was a false alarm.

"WAAAAATTT!?"

"Come on out." From the side, Erica brought out a rather guilty Lucchini and I sighed.

"The one person that didn't start running after Lucchini is the one that caught her... Figures."

"Apparently, Lucchini accidentally set off the alarm..." This time, I face palmed real hard as I turned around to dock my Striker and put away my gun.

"We also confiscated these." In Minna's hands were all the pants that were stolen by Lucchini and I just groaned.

"Nice work, Commander Minna!" Mio commented.

"No, I didn't deserve the credit for this." She then turned and looked at Erica. "You acted with outstanding calmness amid all the chaos and confusion Lt. Hartmann."

"Thank you, thank you." Everyone started to give their praises when Minna spoke up again.

"Now then! Let's begin the award ceremony!" Everyone put their Strikers away and their equipment and I went on to wake up Blaze for the award ceremony and everyone gathered around.

"Lieutenant Hartmann. Please, step up."

"Yes, ma'am!" And we all started to clap and I was standing near the back where Lucchini was doing her punishment of holding buckets of water without any pants.

"Eeehhh... It's all breezy down there..." I heard her complain.

"I feel bad for Lucchini..."

"Yeah. It's strange, come to think of it..."

"What do you mean by that?" I questioned Yoshika when Lucchini spoke up again.

"I only borrowed Perrine's pants in the bath because mine went missing!"

"Wait... What?" I looked at her. "If you took them 'cause your pair went missing... Where's your pair of pants then?"

"Do you think someone really took them?" Lynne questioned

"I don't think so..."

"The decoration of Lieutenant Erica Hartmann will now take place." Minna took the medal out and I watched as she started address her. "Lieutenant Hartmann. As a member of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, you have performed with distinction and produced great results in battle. As such, you are hear by awarded this." Minna put the medal over her head and we all started to clap when the wind started to pick up.

"Huh!?" The wind blew up her uniform slightly showing her pants... Except they weren't her pants at all... We all stared with shock as everyone put the pieces together and were all thinking the same thing. Mio and Minna looked quite confused about our expressions but I guess they interpreted it wrong.

"Everyone is celebrating your success!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Hartmann!"

'_Oh, that sly little devil...'_ I thought to myself. _'Maybe she's much smarter than we think we are for her to slip that fast one by us... I mean she is a genius when it comes to combat.'_ The rest of the day after the ceremony was uneventful after the days excitement of running around the base. Laundry was done and handed back to each of us and for the rest of the day, I spent most of it with Shirley when she gave me a good idea.

"So you're saying that you think a coffee thermos might make Sanya and Blaze less zombie like?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Why not ask if we can buy two flasks through Minna." She suggested and I face desked hard.

"Oh, I'm such an idiot...The answer was staring me right in the face." I grumbled when she patted the back of my head.

"Hey, we all have our hits and misses sometimes." Thanking her, and rubbing the spot where I hit my head, I went down to Minna's office to make the request. She excepted it but questioned about the red mark on my fore head.

"I understand the request and I will file for two of them soon but... Are you feeling sick? There's a rather large red spot on your fore head."

"It's nothing. I feel perfectly fine and combat ready."

"What ever you say. The flasks should arrive on base within four days so I think both of our night Witches can stand a few more days without a midnight wake up."

"Thank you commander." Leaving her office, I spent the rest of the day tinkering away at all of my equipment and reloaded three of my magazines and it soon turned to be dinner time. With dinner finished, Blaze and Sanya were up and about finally and I watched them take off into the night sky from my rooms window. It was a rather cloudy night that night and I felt slightly bad for them as I slid under my covers and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	10. Chapter 10

_**Ember's POV:**_

It's been over a week since Erica's award ceremony and for me everyday has been getting slower. Neuroi activity has been slowing down and in the ten days that have happened, I've only discharged my Neuroi Reaper once. Even standard maintenance has been getting slightly stale since I've hardly used my Striker. The only thing that hasn't been so boring is the amount of mail I've been getting recently. Ever since my little visit to London, I've been getting letters from the little nuggets telling me their progress and I was touched. Though I'm in need of a better way to store all the letters. The desk's drawers were all ready packed with the letters, even after folding them neatly and having them stacked up. Today was also maintenance day for our Strikers and the base personal that lived off sight came in to work on all of our Strikers with mine being the exception. I asked if I could work on my own Striker when the other mechanics worked on everyone else's Strikers and Minna seemed a bit timid and around the topic.

"What's your reasoning on working on your Striker when the other mechanics are here?"

"Well, no one else really knows how my Striker ticks and Lockheed hasn't sent over and engineers that specialize in my special Striker."

"Hhmmm... I will let this one by because I don't want some fatal mistake due to mechanical failure... However, keep your interactions between the others to a minimum if not at all. Understand 2nd Lieutenant?"

"Huh? Why do I-"

"Do you understand 2nd Lieutenant?" She cut me off, venom laced her words and I felt a shiver go down my back.

"... Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Get what ever you need done and then leave the hanger." She turned to leave but I was curious why she's so sensitive when it comes with working with the male personal.

'_She might have her reasons for it in the past... Though this isn't usually like her at all.'_ I thought as I headed towards the hanger. Walking through the entrance, most of the other workers had all ready made it into the hanger and had pulled the Strikers and weapons from their Launcher Units. Tables were set up for each Striker to be worked on and I giggled lightly at the sight of three rather muscular men struggle to carry the Type 99 machine gun to the table. Some of them looked up from what they were doing and looked at me and I ignored them as I walked over to my own Striker. Pulling up two tables, I placed my Strikers, with the assistance of my magic, onto each of them and went to work on them. When I first started I could still feel some of the mechanics eyes on me and the occasional murmur of, "Why's a Witch here?". The lack of voices was starting to irritate me since I've always worked on my Striker when Shirley was usually around and we'd always chat up and give each other tips on our tune up technique. Everyone in here just seemed mechanical when two rather large men came up to me, not making eye contact with me as I looked up.

"Ma'am, would you mind handing over the weapon to be worked on?"

"Of course." Part of me wanted to start a conversation with them but Minna's words and how they acted around me said other wise. Opening the slot, my gun was pulled out of its cover and tilted to the side or me to grab it if I was just docked into in my Striker. With the help of my magic, I grabbed the grip of it and tucked the butt stock under my armpit to brace it as I checked the chamber for any live ammunition. Closing it back up, I handed it off to them and they grabbed it. Letting go, they slumped slightly from the weight of the gun and I couldn't blame them. The original gun I used weighed just about or more than 80 pounds and my current gun is weighting at a hefty 52 pounds, not counting the ammunition I'm carrying as well. I heard them grunt before a slight bang as they hefted and dropped the gun down on one of the tables and quickly went to work on disassembling the gun. I returned back to my own work of replacing what seemed to be a faulty drive shaft in my own Striker. It had a crack in the metal and I'm glad I caught it before I went up in the air.

"Just my luck..." I grumbled. Before, I just needed to replace some small parts that ware out quickly and then close everything up, but now I have to pull the Merlin engine out and replace the shaft before putting it back in. Moving off, I grabbed the spare parts from a box and went to work of dismantling, un bolting, and lifting the engine out when Yoshika came into the hanger with a tray of food.

"Thank you all for your help." We all looked up from our work to see her standing there with sweets, tea, and an innocent smile on her face. "I've made some sweets. Everyone, please have some." I glanced at the other mechanics and they all just went back to work which kind of angered me slightly.

"Why don't you all take a break and have some treats. You've all been working hard." I said to them but they didn't even look up at me.

"U-Um, these are sweets from Fuso, and..."

"I'm sorry." I heard one of the mechanics say. "Commander Minna has prohibited us from having unnecessary conversations with the Witches."

"Huh? Well... I'll just leave these here then..." She glumly put them down on a spare table and left the hanger with her head hanging down slightly. When she left the hanger I put down my tools and didn't look at the other mechanics as I went over and took a cookie and a cup of tea and went back to my station to eat and drink it.

"She's not here now so you can go and have a slight break." I said, a bit irritated. "The Commander never said anything about eating some food a Witch brings so get it while it's still warm." I took a sip of tea and finished off my cookie. Eventually, the others slowly started to go in pairs of getting some treats and a drink and not long after, the plate was empty. Silence returned as we continued working and I finished up my own Striker about the same time they had finished up with the maintenance of the other units as well. Everything was put away and all the men filed out quietly and quickly leaving the hanger empty again. Glancing at the other Striker's I could see that all of them were looking basically new and all were polished and ready for use.

'_Might not talk much, but damn are they efficient.'_ I thought when Minna came into the hanger and looked around slightly before addressing me.

"Was there any unnecessary conversations in here?"

"No, ma'am."

"Good." Her mood brightened slightly. "They sure did a good job on our Strikers though." She commented before leaving.

'_What's with her hostility towards Witch interactions with the other men...?' _I thought. _'It's not as if they are going to do anything bad to us...'_ I thought before leaving as well.

"Say, Minna." She turned and faced me. "Why are you so strict about interactions with the male personal and Witches?" I tried to get any information but she shot me down quickly.

"Because they're the rules. Nothing more, nothing less." Her voice was stern but I could see there was something more in her eyes. They had what looked like a pang of sadness but it was quickly covered up as she turned around and walked away. Cleaning my hands off, I walked down the runway stretching my arms behind my head and I looked across the ocean. These weird dreams I've been having have been more consistently and I can't dismiss them as night mares anymore. My most recent one I guessed was telling me that someone close to me was going to get hurt in the near future.

'_What are they trying to get me to do? What power is she talking about...'_ I thought as I looked across the sea as the wind picked up. _'What do these dreams have to do with me?... Well, things always been a bit weird for me from the beginning.'_ I chuckled light as I thought back to my past experiences. _'Nearly mugged and or rapped back in the states and my power manifestation making me a Witch saved both Blaze and I... Being spared by the Neuroi after a base destruction and now my misadventures with the 501st.'_ Looking off to the side, I saw a rather large carrier passing by, a Fuso flag on it's mast.

"A Fuso vessel... The Akagi if I'm right... What's it doing here?" Turning back around, I walked back around the base when I heard Minna's voice.

"I believe I told you such things were prohibited."

"I'm sorry." It was a boys voice. "I just wanted to convey words of thanks."

"That's right. He didn't do anything wrong." I pressed my back against the wall as I eased dropped on their conversation.

"Unnecessary contact with the Witches is strictly prohibited. Therefore, I will return this to you."

"I'm sorry..." I heard him run off before Minna left as well. Peaking around the corner, Yoshika was still standing there, head hanging low.

"Hey, you all right?"

"I'm fine but... Why does Minna have such a weird rule in the unit?"

"I was wondering the same thing. I don't really see anything wrong with how he wanted to give you a letter of thanks to you. From what I remember, you saved the Akagi when you were coming to the 501st with Mio."

"Oh, that reminds me! The Admiral of the Akagi gave me a gift!"

"Oh really now?"

"Yeah! Lynne has it! Come on!" She ran off and I walked after her before she found me again and we started to walk towards her room. "You know... Commander Minna was scary."

"Yeah..."

"I wonder what was in that letter?"

"Who knows... Maybe it was a letter by the crew or maybe something else..." I mumbled.

"What was that Ember?"

"Oh, nothing."

"... Yoshika?" She seemed pretty down by not receiving the letter. Reaching her room though, she seemed to brighten up as we put the gift down and started to undo the wrapping to find it was a Fuso Witch Doll.

"Wow! A Fuso Doll!"

"It's so cute!~"

"I'd like to say thank you though..."

"Hey, lighten up. You're such a such good natured girl that they know you'd want to say thank you. Heh, even after being in combat as a Witch for such a long time... You're still such a pure girl at heart."

"You really think that Ember?"

"Of course." Suddenly the air raid siren went off and I looked at Lynne and Yoshika. "Now lets go out and fight for the Akagi!"

"Right!" We all started to walk towards the briefing room when I made a slight detour to get Blaze from our room and to my surprise, she was all ready fully dressed in her black uniform and pillow in hand. Escorting her to the room, we took out seats and Minna began the briefing.

"We've received a report from Gallia of the enemy advancing."

"For once, the predictions were accurate." Mio commented.

"I'm itching for some action." I cracked my knuckles with an evil grin.

"Yes. Current altitude is 15,000, heading directly towards this base." Mio then got up from her seat and walked up to the front of the room."

"All right, we can go with the routine intercept pattern. For today's embarkation assignment, Barkhorn and Hartmann will take the lead. Perrine and Lynne will take the rear followed by Miyafuji, Minna, myself, and Vermillion. Shirley, Lucchini, Eila, Sanya, and Blaze, stand by at the base."

"House-sitting, house-sitting!~" Lucchini cheered as Shirley leaned back slightly.

"I guess I can adjust my unit settings." Mean while, both Blaze and Sanya just fell back to sleep immediately.

"All right! Get prepared for flight!" Standing up, I rushed down to the hanger, deciding to take out the ammo backpack instead of the sling. Loading up the four other magazine, I jumped into my Striker and moved into position before we ll took off in formation flight. About a minute went by without contact when Mio spoke up.

"Enemy sighted!" Pulling the charging handle back, I loaded a fresh round into the chamber.

"What type?"

"Confirming now!" She lifted her eye patch and looked past our own visual range. "300 meter Class. Take the usual formation?"

"Yes."

"Okay, attack!" Both Erica and Trude rolled over into a dive while both Lynne and Perrine followed suit. I was about to when the Neuroi gave out a screech and broke into multiple pieces.

"Ah, this type of Neuroi!"

"It divided?"

"Any idea how many there are?" I asked aloud when Minna answered my question.

"Eighty to the lower right, one hundred in the center, thirty to the left."

"210 in all. It'll be raining lead!"

"Indeed."

"So, what do we do?"

"Mio, you'll look for the core."

"Roger."

"Barkhon team, take the middle. Perrine team, intercept to the right. Miyafuji, you stick with major Sakamoto."

"Roger!"

"Listen, your duty is to keep the enemy away until the major can locate the core."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"And what about me Minna?"

"I got the left covered so just wonder between the zones providing support."

"Roger that!" Rolling over, I immediately zoomed for the center and five cubes nosed up for a head on. "You really think you're going to win this?" Bringing up my gun, I let out a burst of .50 cal's of freedom into the group and each of them blew up into the white fragments before I went on to chase more. Target after target I tracked after letting my bullets rip them to shreds and I was keeping a very close tab on my kill count. Up the numbers went as more and more Neuroi was destroyed when I found myself back to back with Erica and Trude.

"That makes ten!"

"Twelve down here!"

"Fourteen. You two are rather slow today." I snickered as I shot down another one. "Make that fifteen."

"Looks like we can finally keep score again!"

"Yeah, we haven't been able to recently."

"In that case, lets make a bet! Looser has to cook dinner for the squad!"

"That's a deal Ember!" Both of them shouted as we broke away, avoiding a squadron of Neuroi. Pulling a high yo-yo, I got into their tail and slowly started to pick them off. Further and further I started to wander towards the right most area when lightning, originating from Perrine ripped through the sky taking a large chunk out of the Neuroi force.

'_So that's her special ability...'_ I thought when a laser beam shot past my shoulder. Cursing at how I got ten Neuroi on my tail, I pulled into a tight right turn before pulling up , air breaks out and flipping my legs out from under me while shooting. The same maneuver I pulled on Anne over a week ago and I blasted away about eight of the ten cores. Switching magazines, I continued on but the numbers didn't seem to shrink as quickly as I thought. Coming to a hover for a split second, I let a burst into a large group of Neuroi on Trude's tail when I turned to see a cube rushing me. I didn't have enough time to pull my gun around so I did what I thought was the next best thing of creating a dense small shield in front of my fist and punched it as hard as I could. It shattered into the white flakes but at the same time, cutting up my left arm slightly. Though with the amount of adrenaline in my body, I didn't care as I rushed after the next swarm of these cubes. The battle dragged on much longer than I was hoping for and I was starting to worry as I was on my last magazine. The wound on my arm was also starting to become more stressed as blood soaked into my sleeve and started to run down my arm onto my gun. Finding myself back with Trude and Erica, we all were starting to get wary of this battle.

"There's no end to them..."

"Which one is the core? 'Cause I'm starting to run low on ammo. How about you Erica?"

"Same. Ember?"

"Last magazine as well."

"You might want to have Yoshika check that out as well." Trude motioned to my arm but I shook it my head. "After this battle... By the way, 32."

"31." Erica pouted slightly.

"33! Now lets get back into the fight people!" Trude yelled at us and we went back into the fray. I tried to conserve as much ammo as I could only taking shots that I knew I could hit and thank god it only took one .50 caliber bullet to destroy a Neuroi.

"God, how much longer is this going to take." Putting my hand to my ear, I activated my intercom. "Minna! Has the core been located yet!?"

"_Not yet Ember!"_

"Well, find it faster! We're getting very close to the continent!" Removing my hand I mumbled to myself, "this wound is also staring to get worse as well." Ignoring the burning sensation I had, I looked around and saw Erica flying defensively as a group of 12 cubes followed her. I would have just sprayed into the group but my ammo conditions were preventing me so I got creative. Putting every ounce of magic I could into the engines, I started to accelerate at an insane rate while in a dive and I I closed in, from the top, on the Neuroi formation before breaking the speed of sound just as I passed them. Air breaks extended, I killed my speed quickly and pointed my gun up to take a few shots before Trude swooped in taking the rest of the stunned Neuroi out.

"_Attention, all units. The enemy core has been located."_ I heard Minna say. _"We will take it down, so keep the others away!"_

"Roger that Minna!" Looking around, only a few small amounts of the cubic drones were remaining. Looking at the back of my magazine, I saw that I only had about 30 rounds remaining so used them to the fullest. Perusing and making the advance of the cubes to protect the core, I killed off three more when they all exploded. Looking over, I saw Minna, Mio, and Yoshika pull up their shields to block the shower of white fragments but I noticed Mio's shield was a lighter shade of blue compared to Yoshika's and Minna's.

"Yoshika, that was amazing!" Lynne flew up and hugged her and I flew up to congratulate her and Perrine just huffed.

"That was just a fluke."

"I don't think so. It's quite difficult to hit an enemy craft conducting irregular behavior."

"That, and also the rather slow velocity of the 20mm round."

"Miyafuji, you're pretty good!" Erica complimented.

"Ehehehehe. Y-You think so?"

"You've defiantly advanced quite far since when you first joined Yoshika." I commented when I looked at Trude and Erica. "By the way, 39."

"40!" Erica fist pumped.

"42." Trude said confidently and I drooped my head slightly.

"I lost..."

"And that means your cooking tonight!" Erica cheered and I started to wince as the pain started to grow in my arm. I guess that since nothing exciting was happening, the adrenaline rush was waring off and I was starting to receive the proper amount of pain from my arm.

"Ah, Ember! You're hurt!" Yoshika finally either noticed my wince or how blood was dripping off my hand and my sleeve was rather soaked in it. WIth her flying over to my side, I slung my gun over my shoulder and she looked at the arm questionably.

"How did you hurt it in the first place?" She asked.

"I guess it's when I punched a Neuroi that was bum rushing me. Just sort of reacted."

"Well... Can you pull up your sleeve so I can observe how bad it is?" Complying, I started to pull it up, but shots of stining pain made me let go of it. I tried to again, this time pulling it up further when i saw that there were some white fragments imbeded in my skin and most likely there's more further up the sleeve as well. "This is a bit worse than I thought... And I don't have any tweezers to remove them either..." Looking base her, I saw what looked like a destroyed harbor bellow us where the fragments of the recently destroyed Neuroi fell. It was a rather a morbid beautiful sight as the white fragments shined in the light.

"Beautiful..."

"Yeah, when they're like this."

"They say that beautiful flowers have thorns." Perrine said when Erica made a rather sly remark.

"Talking about yourself?"

"H-How rude! W-Well... I acknowledge the part about being beautiful, though."

"So you're full of thorns?"

"Why must you always pull the rug out form under someone Erica!?"

"Nyah! Thorny!" Perrine whined in annoyance when noticed Minna star flying down towards the land.

"Minna?"

"Eh? Hey! where are you-" Erica started to fly after her when Mio stopped her.

"Wait, let her be alone."

"I see... This is Pas-de-Calais."

"Huh? What's this place?" I asked as Yoshika looked over my arm a bit more before flying over to Mio

"It's a naval base where refugees were shipping through... Erica, Minna, and myself were also here to support the escape effort but... Some mechanics never got off base. One of those mechanics was someone very close to Minna."

"Ahh..." My arm felt like it was burning up and with every movement sent a stinging sensation followed by a little more blood when Yoshika flew up to me again.

"Ms. Sakamoto said we can return to base to heal you Ember." She said, a serious face on her.

"Right. I'll be taking my leave from you guys then. See you back at base."

"Later Ember." Flying off with Yoshika, we returned to base and were greeted by Shirley as we landed.

"Yoooo!" She waved her hand and started to walk towards us before she started to run. "My god, what happened to your arm Ember!?" She was all ready at my side looking it over and I tried to calm her down.

"I-It's nothing Shirley!"

"I-it's nothing really Shirley! Please calm down a little!" I my Striker docked and my gun on a table since I needed to clean it off and Yoshika quickly escorted me to the medical bay. Shirley also came along with us to the medical bay and I stiffly sat down in one of the beds as Yoshika scrambled around trying to find all of the things she needed before coming back over with some scissors, cotton, tweezers, a glass jar, and some disinfectant. Cutting my sleeve off, we could see the full extent of of the damage. Honestly, I didn't think it was that bad but my arm kind of looked like it went through a shredder. Large streaks of where white Neuroi fragments cut into me along with multiple rather large pieces just imbedded in my arm. I felt Shirley's hand fall on top of my free hand, but I didn't matter as Yoshika pursed her lips together and looked at me.

"This might take longer than usual so bare with me." She picked up the scissor sized tweezers and slowly starting to pick the fragments out of me, occasionally dabbing some cotton on my wounds to collect the blood. A few minutes later, she had all the pieces out and used her healing powers to seal me up. "Now, I'm done." Moving my arm around, if felt brand new and it looks as if nothing happened to it at all. Going back down to the hanger we greeted the others as they landed when Yoshika hung her head. "By now the Akagi has left so I can't say good bye..."

"Why aren't you getting into your Striker Miyafuji? Don't you want to say thanks to the Akagi?" Yoshika instantly looked up at Minna.

"You mean it!?" She nodded her head. "Can I bring Ms. Sakamoto, Lynne, and Ember along as well?"

"You can. Just hurry up before they leave."

"Right!" She scrambled back into her Striker and I got into my own and the four of us took off into the skies again. The ship had all ready left the docks and was sailing away from our base and we pushed a little harder and buzzed the runway.

"If that didn't get their attention, I don't know what will." I chuckled as started to pull up slightly into a loose split-S. At the peak of we rolled over and descended slightly before banking around to the port side of the ship.

"Thank you, everyone!" She yelled out, waving her hand to everyone. "Do your best! I will too!"

"Good for you, Yoshika!" Lynne cheered as I flew up and ruffled her hair slightly.

"You did good."

"Yeah! I was able to say thank you as well!"

"They've been so good to you after all." Mio added.

"Yes." I looked at them with a smile at how they all came on deck and bellow deck to wave and see Yoshika.

"Everyone looks happy."

"Thank goodness..."

"Lets head back to base then." Mio commanded.

"Yes, ma'am!" We all ascended back up and was about to turn around when I heard something in my intercom. It surprised me too hear Minna's voice singing, with whom I guessed was Sanya playing the piano in the background. It soon was playing over the loud speakers on the ship itself. Her voice was soothing and it warmed my heart as I listened to it. Going into a hover, Lynne and Yoshika were waving and I was staying behind with Mio.

"Minna's got a beautiful singing voice." I said and Mio just nodded her head.

"I heard she was going to be a musician before the war started."

"Ah..." Turning around, we docked back into base and quickly went to our meeting area to find Shirley operating the radio, Eila watching over Sanya as she played the piano while Erica was relaxing on the couch and Trude was standing with a camera. Lucchini was sleeping on another couch and Perrine was on the side listening. The main star of the show was wearing this elegant red dress as she sung into the microphone.

:Lili, Lili Marleen." She sung the last words and we all stated to clap, congratulating Minna.

"That was such a beautiful song!" Yoshika praised her.

"Thank you." I looked with amusement, and to Yoshika's pain, as Eila went on to pull on her cheeks with an evil grin on her face. "Waaah! Whash're yaahh doowin!?"

"What about Santa's piano playing? Sanya, jeez!"

"Ish wush wery heautihul!"

"Come on, praise her some more!"

"I am hraising her! Hlease, let wee go!" To be honest, I didn't know her cheeks could stretch that far and I was struggling trying to keep quiet only to fail as I burst our into laughter. "Ehmbah! Hwats not huny! Huease, let wee go!"

"Nope, not yet!"

"It- It hurtsh, E-Eila!" Even Minna was laughing while Mio was looking at us with a confused face. With night falling quite quickly we got the equipment that somehow they got out, put together, and broad casting in the time it took Mio, Yoshika, Lynne, and myself to reach and say good bye to the Akagi, and then I started to prepare dinner for everyone for the bet. After dinner, it was late enough that people started to go to bed. Feeling a bit more energetic, I grabbed the thermoses Minna ordered and made a cup of coffee for the two Night Witches and went down to the hanger with them. Sanya and Blaze took them gratefully, thanking me before they took off as well. Returning back to my room, I feel back asleep, though the day after that was pretty interesting.

I was working away like I always do in the hanger, this time grappling with a stubborn shell casing which jammed my gun from the last combat mission. Since I didn't have any more Neuroi to shoot at, I didn't get the chance to fire it again to find it was jammed. Hell, even the extractor broke but I deducted that it was due to a flaw in the metal itself. It's still a pain in the ass to work on since I have to remove the barrel from the gun and tap it out when Shirley came into the hanger.

"Yo!" Flicking my wrist to the side, I greeted her and she returned the greeting.

"Minna's asking to assemble everyone in the meeting room. Not sure what we're doing, but she told me to get you." Looking at her and then down at my gun before back at her. I wanted to get the gun working again, but I guess what Minna had to say was important so I put down the gun barrel and followed her to the meeting room. Blaze was all ready there and to my surpise, she was rather awake... Well slightly awake with caffein from the coffee and she was currently propping herself up with her palm on the table and as I took my seat, Minna began to talk.

"Thank you for coming everyone for today, I have a very special announcement. 2nd Lieutenant Ember Vermillion, please step up here." She had her smile on and I got up from my seat a bit warily and joined her up at the front of the room. Standing beside her, I was rather stiff and I waited for what she was going to say. "Today, I've received a letter from the USAAF command to say that with 2nd Lieutenant Vermillion's performance over the battlefield, you have received a one rank promotion and will be decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross." I was taken aback by what Minna said, Blaze instantly perked up from what she said while Shirley only gawked at me. "The ceremony will be held later this afternoon so everyone, I expect everyone to be prepared. Congratulations again, 1st Lieutenant." I was still a bit shocked with what she said before I turned to her and gave a big smile and a salute.

"Thank you very much Commander!"

"There's also another package arriving from Lockheed Industries with your medal Lieutenant. Now that everything's over with, everyone, dismissed!" She left the room and I was still kind of dazed from the shock when Shirley gave me a reallllyyy hard slap on the back. I had to take a few steps to keep from falling over and she had a sly grin on her face.

"Oh, you lucky duckling! You've been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross!"

"What so important about that medal?" Lucchini asked lazily and Shirley explained.

"The medal Ember here is getting is just under the Medal of Honor! It's the second highest ranking medal in the USAAF can give a person... Not to mention that you also got promoted heehee. Lieutenant Vermillion... I like the ring it has." I was all ready awarded seven Air Medals, two Distinguished Flying Cross's, and a single Silver Star but the Distinguished Service Cross? Just... Wow. I never thought I would do this well in the military, nor would I have such an honor receiving this medal. Helping Blaze back to our room, I started to wonder what Lockheed might have sent me this time since it's only been a short while since I received my Firebird from them. I was walking towards the hanger when I saw a rather interesting sight of people trying to wrestle Trude out of her Striker Unit.

"No! You can't take your Striker!" Shirley yelled, pulling her away.

"But I need to go now!"

"Come on Trude! You can't just take your Striker!" Erica whined as she pulled on the other arm. I sweat dropped at the sight and it took a minute later with the help of Shirley, Erica, and Yoshika. Once we let her go, she quickly grabbed Erica's hand and ran over to one of the bases car ordering her to drive her back to London.

"Come on Hartmann! Drive!" She was standing up in the passenger's seat pointing out ahead as Erica rolled her eyes and complied, driving out of the base.

"Jeez, she really is a siscon... One word that her sister woke up now and she's out of here!... AGH! And she didn't even help set up the stage!" Shirley pulled her hair and I sighed as I helped her set up the stage for my event and quickly went to work on pulling the jammed casing from the barrel. Reassembling the gun and carefully oiling it up, I put it away when Yoshika came down to tell me something.

"Commander Minna said that the transport plane should be arriving soon so you should get ready for the ceremony." Thanking her, I went to the bath to wash up before rummaging around in my drawer finding my uniforms cap and I put on my nicer uniform. Rummaging further, I pulled all my medals out and pinned them on me before I came out. Shirley was waiting for me outside and she nodded her head slightly before adjusting my cap slightly.

"Lookin' fine there Emb's. Lookin' like a Witch for the Liberion propaganda poster." Moving down to the hanger again, everyone was slowly filling in with other Witches just as the transport plane came with Seris escorting it, but it seemed like Anne also came along as well. With them landed, they jumped out and leaned their Strikers up against a wall. I hugged the two of them and they gave the box which had the medal inside of it to Minna.

"We shall now begin the ceremony!" Everyone stood up at attention. "Lieutenant Vermillion, please step up."

"Yes, ma'am!" Stepping up, I stood at attention.

"The decoration of Lieutenant Vermillion will now take place." She stepped towards me and removed the top of the white case Seris gave to her and took the contents inside out. "Lieutenant Vermillion. As a member of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, and as an active military participant in the United States Army Air Force, you have performed with distinction and produced great results while in battle. As such, you are here by awarded with the Distinct Service Cross." She pinned the medal to my chest and stood back saluting me and I returned the salute. Everyone else started to clap and I turned to the rest of the people with a smile. "Congratulations, Lieutenant Vermillion!"

Trude was present with a camera and took a picture of my as I saluted before I walked down and got swarmed around me congratulating me with my achievement when the side of the transport plane opened up with a large box in the back. With the absence of Trude, they used a crane to grab it and drag it into the hanger in the last open slot for a Striker unit. With the men quickly exiting and going back into the C-47, we all looked at it with wonder.

"Say, Seris, do you know what's inside of it exactly?" I asked and she shook her head.

"I have no idea. It just arrived at our base today and asked for us to deliver it to you. All I know about it is that it's from Lockheed and that's it."

"Go on ahead Ember," Minna encouraged me, "go on and open it." Walking up to it and started to pull one strap when the rest let go at the same time. Jumping back as the wooden pallets came off, a rather unique looking Striker unit was underneath it. It had straight wings normally but the end of the unit was strangely hollow; there wasn't the regular rounded nose cone and slit where the propellers would appear to provide propulsion. It's main body was thicker and rounder than others but I also didn't see any exhaust ports in the end of it.

"This ain't a regular Striker..." Shirley commented and everyone else nodded. Looking down, I picked up the manual to see it had Lockheeds insignia on the front with the name of the designer bellow. Opening it up, I found the design of the Striker on the inside.

"Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star..." I read out loud before I continued reading throuhg the contents when my eyes bulged slightly as I found the Striker type. "It's a Jet Striker..."

* * *

**So yeah... New Striker Unit! *Crowd cheering* I was going to have this part in a separate chapter but I kept it in here anyway so... yeah... I'll just leave you with this cliff hanger until next chapter~ ****Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	11. Chapter 11

_**Ember's POV:**_

"Jet Striker?" I heard Yoshika question behind me. "What's that?"

"Well, Yoshika," I started to explain to the best of my ability. "Jet Strikers are a brand new piece of technology that I guess uuhh..." I quickly glanced through the manual to see if there's anything inside of it that would give me any sort of information. "It, I guess, uses magical energy as some sort of thrust in the engine to push it instead of using a prop to push it."

"So in theory, we should get more energy and speed from this type of Striker because it's using the pure energy it produces, and not wasting much energy in moving a mechanical object!" Shirley lightly hit her fist into her open palm as she came to her conclusion while some of the others only nodded with their, "I don't know what the fuck they're talking about," faces.

"Lockheed sure loves giving you new toy Ember!" Anne teased as she got me in a head lock and gave me a noogie.

"That might be so, but this is unknown technology so I'm barding you from flying this Striker until you know how to fly it correctly." Minna commanded.

"Of course. What about you two?" I motioned towards Anne and Seris and they stood their ground.

"We don't have anything else to do so might as well stick around here for a while," Anne calmly said. "The transport also needs to refuel so that will take extra time as well." Nodding my head, I looked down at the rather thick packet of papers and I sat down in the hanger and started to read. I read much faster than a normal person so I finished about 5 minutes later and looked at the Striker.

"Oh, you just make my inner mechanic squeal with joy knowing how you sort of work," I mumbled to myself before running to Minna's office to tell her I'm ready. Getting back to the hanger, Shirley was all ready setting up telemetry devices on the Striker and I nodded to her with our silent transition. To my surprise, she even offered up the goggles she has, saying, "Don't break them while you're out there." Thanking her, I jumped into the new Striker and it felt different. It had a feeling of power to it, more so than what my Firebird had when l first flew it. Remembering what the manual said as I started up the engines and the sound of them surprised me. It was a whine instead of a rumble and the whine only go higher in pitch as I "spooled" up the engine. Waiting till it reached an even pitch at the neutral throttle, I gave a thumbs up to Shirley and she gave one back. Putting the goggles on and fixing them to my face, I released myself from the Launch Unit and started my way down the runway. The whine turned to a near roar as I gave more power to the turbine engine but I was rather unimpressed with rate of acceleration. I mentally noted that it takes much more time to get to airborne compared to the traditional Striker Unit just as I gained enough air speed to take off into the sky. Everything felt sluggish at first as I kept on climbing but things were slowly speeding up.

"_Ember, current speed of 524 Km/h and an altitude of 1500 feet... Rather slow in both speed and ascension rate don't you think?" _I heard Shirley comment through my intercom.

"Yeah. Though I wonder how fast this thing can go in a straight line!" Rolling over much easier since I've gained more speed, I pulled around and dove slightly before going straight to buzz the runway. Faster and faster I went as I approached the base before blasting by with my engines roaring. A second later, I felt the acceleration stop and I frowned slightly.

"_Ember! Current top speed of 847 Km/h! And DAMN that Striker is loud!" _Pulling up into a steep climb, I noted that energy retention was also pretty good on this Striker and I kept on going up and up and up before my engines started to stall out.

"Max altitude is also correct on what it said on paper as well." I relayed as I started to got into a free fall. With my back to the water, I spread my arms out and took in the moment of what it feels like to be up in the sky. The freedom of moving around in all three dimensions before I gunned the engines again. Further tests went on with the air brakes and maneuverability though all in all, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would. I also felt much more tiered compared to my old Striker and I guess that's because there's a higher magic draw than for the turbines. With my Striker away, I gave the goggles back to Shirley after she bickered me about my performance and that's when Anne and Seris said they had to go.

"The transport is filled up so I guess this will be our good bye for now," Seris said, a BAR strapped to her back.

"Until next time!" They both took off with the transport when more waves of tiredness hit me causing me to let out a yawn.

"God... That took more out of me than I thought..."

"Here, let me help you back to your room." Shirley offered and I gladly took it. With her help, I got back to my room and just collapsed into my bed. Though soon, in the next few days, the base had some unusual visitors consisting of a few journalists to get the latest scoop of my promotion and decoration. I guess I'm still the poster girl back in Liberion so it was the inevitable. They took some pictures of me in full uniform and asked me a few questions that I happily answered. After their little interrogation, they said their good byes and were on their marry way. The next day went on usual with the exception of the dream I had. That night, it said there would be a messenger seeking me out very soon. I was quite confused what she meant by that and that night, Shirley and I went down to our usual spot on base to star gaze. The grass where we usually laid was now matted to our body shape and I looked up into the sky. With her laying by my side, I explained to her what dreams I've been having lately and she only nodded her head.

"I don't know what to say about that Ember. They could be real messages but... What if they're not?"

"I don't know anymore... I usually push them aside but... The frequency and what I've been seeing has been bringing my attention back..." I haven't told her about how I had a threat that everyone might get killed by this metal object over the destroyed base. Though I also haven't got around to ask her something... Well, I didn't have the courage to ask her yet. It became plainly obvious to me the feelings I have for Shirley but... I didn't know if she had the same feelings back. I was afraid of rejection so I still haven't asked her yet... Nor do I feel it's the right time either. It's kind of funny how I can stare down a Neuroi threat but I couldn't confess yet. We spent the next half hour in silence enjoying each other's company before we both decided to hit the sack for the night. Saying good bye to each other, we both headed to our own rooms and fell asleep. The very next day, everything went on as usual with myself doing my morning workout routine followed by a wash up, and then onto working on my Striker. Though how much I do love to work on my Firebird, the new jet Striker is taking up all of my work at the moment. Pulling apart, studying, and learning from it I whistled at what I found. I even let Shirley have a look and she too whistled at the ingenuity that went into the design of the plane.

"Damn Ember. Kelly Johnson really knows how to design a plane right?"

"That, I can relate... Matter of fact, I think he also redesigned my Firebird as well..." I looked over at my old bird with a slight smile, it's black skin in complete contrast to the aluminum finish on the P-80. "Though how cool it sounds to having it jet powered... It's slower than even your Merlin's, it's got a higher magic consumption, and it's rather sluggish in turns at low speeds. Hell, this thing can't go super sonic like our prop Strikers."

"Well... I guess all roses have their thorns..." She said and I gave her a blank stare and a sideways look. "... What? Did I say something wrong?"

"That's a saying Perrine used a few days ago on our last contact mission..." I sighed as I closed up my hatch when my stomach growled. "I also guess that's my internal clock saying it's about breakfast time." Sniffing the air, I could smell some eggs and bacon cooking. "Mmmm, and it smells like Lynne is cooking this morning as well!"

"Shall we then?" Nodding my head, we both went down to the dinning room and got ourselves a big helping of scrambled eggs, sausage, and bacon before sitting down at the table. Food, as usual, was superb and I gave my complements to Lynne who only blushed and looked away.

"T-Thank you Ember." Putting away my dishes I went back down to the hanger to work on an old relic of mine. Going to the back of the storage room, I came to two objects covered in dusty rags. Pulling off the cover's my eyes dimmed slightly seeing my old P-38-J Lightning and M2 Heavy machine gun sitting back here collecting dust as the months ware on. Pulling up a spare table, I placed them all down and looked at them all.

'_I wonder what would happen to these after the war's over...'_ I thought before glancing over at the long row of other Striker Units. _'I wonder what will happen to the rest of these beautiful machines once they are no longer needed...'_

Even though I knew I would never need this Striker unit again since I've got two other's; the P-80 and P-38-N Firebird. But, working on a Striker was like a meditation for me. It took my mind away things and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think that my father would have loved to see what I've become. Liberion's top Ace and a complete mechanic at heart. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to have this Striker ready for backup use if somehow the other two Striker's fail, I wouldn't be caught "naked" as one could say when a Neuroi is attacking... Or that strange metal object. Though cracking open the old Striker, I found it was quite fun working on the Allison engines. However, in the back of my mind, there was still something bugging me. Putting them away again after polishing the outer surface, I took a stroll around the base and found a nice comfy spot under a tree to take a nap. Making myself comfy, I feel asleep until Shirley came to get me for lunch. It was a simple one consisting of some sandwiches delivered on large platters and all of it was gone within no time when Mio announced something after lunch.

"Right! Shirley and Lucchini, will you accompany me with Lynne, Perrine, and Miyafuji? I'd like to see how Yoshika will perform in a duel between you two."

"Can I join in as well?" I asked. "I want to see how well the P-80 will perform."

"Fine, you can join as well. We will be leaving in about 10 minutes so all of you get prepared!"

"Riiiigghhht." We all said in unison before leaving for the hanger. Going to the special gun rack where the orange training guns were stored. Picking up my training version of my Neuroi Reaper, made sure the air pressure inside the gun was maxed out and filled the magazine with the paint pellets and checked for any obstruction of the barrel. Everyone else did the same with their own trainers before jumping into their Strikers. The rumble of radial and inline engines filled the hanger as Mio came in, adding her own Striker to the noise. Jumping into my own, I started up the magical jet engines and the slow whine added to the noise. Giving a thumbs up to Mio, she gave the signal for us all to launch. Down the runway we went and slowly we all started to take off, clearing the runway and headed inland for the simulated dogfighting area was going to be held. Reaching the destination, Mio started to oder us around.

"All right! Miyafuji and Perrine will be paired up and will be facing both Shirley and Lucchini. Lynne, you will be the referee for this match! Understood?" she asked, getting confirmation from both teams. "Good! Get to your starting position and Lynne will signal the start of the match."

Hanging back with Mio, I watch as the two groups went to opposite sides. Climbing up, I could observe them all when I head Lynne blow a whistle signaling the start. Both groups started to head towards each other before crossing each other meaning, "game on," for both of them. They all were flying low to the deck as one fought over control and domination when Shirley and Lucchini got the upper hand.

"_Miyafuji, you've been taken from behind!" _I heard Perrine call out through the intercom. Both Lucchini and Shirley pursuing Yoshika and she broke off to the right trying to shake them off. Observing, anyone knew that if she didn't get them off her tail, she's a dead Witch when she did something unexpected. Pulling up into a sharp climb, she rolled and got in on both of their six's and opened fire.

"_Waaahhh!"_

"_Ohhh!?"_ I heard both Shirley and Lucchini cry out in surprise and Lynne blew the whistle signaling it was match was over.

"_The Perrine-Miyafuji pair wins! That was amazing, Yoshika!"_

"_We lost!" _Lucchini cried as I flew down to congratulate her. _"How weird, I could have sworn I was right on her tail..." _Getting closer, I could finally hear their voices without the intercom's aid.

"You've really grown, Miyafuji!"

"You think so?" She asked when Lucchini went up behind her and started to grope her. "Wah!"

"Lets see!~"

"W-W-What are you doing!?"

"Too bad. No change here at all."

"Well, I can see that."

"Come on guys!" I was laughing hard by now before recomposing myself.

"But it's really true Yoshika. You've grown a lot and gotten much better." I added.

"But, at high altitude, it would've been a different story!" Lucchini slid slyly.

"We might make a better pair than we thought!" she looked to wards Perrine who only huffed.

"You must be joking! Not in a million years!"

"All right, enough chit chat! Next group up will be Miyafuji and Ember Vs. Lucchini and Shirley again." Mio announced and with our aid, we got the majority of the paint stains off. Setting up again, we were facing off when Lynne blew the whistle.

"Come on, Yoshika!"

"Mm!" She nodded her head and took off with me at first easily keeping up with me but soon started to struggle slightly with keeping up when we crossed paths. Pulling into a turn to get on their six, the Striker's performance was really showing since Lucchini and Shirley were most likely able to turn right back around on me. Rotating ninety degrees, I dove under them to build up speed. I heard the pitter patter of the pain guns shooting but the shots missed as we dove before pulling up into a zoom climb. Both Yoshika and I built up enough speed to do this and up we went high. Up we went to gain altitude when I started to lose control over my control surfaces on my Striker unit due to a lower airspeed. Flipping sideways to gain speed in a straight line, both Lucchini and Shirley were on our tail.

"Yoshika, break right! I'll break left!" Instantly she was off in her own right turn and I pulled back into my own left. Both Shirley and Lucchini broke off with Lucchini chasing after Yoshika and Shirley after me. Knowing I will never win the turn fight, I tried to out speed her by going into a shallow dive, but Shirley was still gaining on me. Rotating again, I pulled hard to try to make her over shoot but she was glued to me when I felt the pitter patter of paint hitting my Striker.

"Woohoo! I shot down Ember!" I heard Shirley cheer when I head Yoshika whine over the radio as well.

"_Yeah! I got Yoshika! I told you this is a different story at high altitude!"_

"You know this would have been a different story if I had my Firebird, Shirley..." I pouted and she only grinned even lager.

"I wonder what a super sonic dogfight would be like!" She squealed and the rest of the training went on just like that. Mio switched people in and out with different pairing when I asked if I could leave early since I was starting to feel tiered. With her go ahead, I made my way back to the base and locked everything away and went to take a bath. With nothing else to do, I took a slight nap in the base's lounge when the rumble of engines woke me up. Yawning as I woke up, I rubbed my eyes and stretched slightly before flopping back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. I staid there for a while longer when I decided to read some of the un-read letters I had. Passing by the bathroom on the way to my room, I stopped when I heard Perrine's shrill voice.

"Miyafuji!"

"Y-Yes?"

"I challenge you to a duel!"

"Du-Duel!?"

'_A duel eh?'_ I thought and walked into the changing room.

"I say it's sort of a good idea." I said while Perrine tensed up seeing me walk in.

"E-Ember! Why I-I didn't see you there! When I said duel, I meant-"

"It's fine Perrine. I'm not as mad as you think I am..." I crossed my arms and sighed slightly before looking up. "I feel like terms will be better between you two after a duel."

"R-Really?" Perrine stuttered out.

"I remember I had one with one of my squad mates in the 370th. After that, things got better between us. Though I think I will look over you two to confirm this little duel."

"R-Right..." With Yoshika finally dressed we made our way down to the hanger Yoshika went over to pick up her training rifle when Perrine spoke out again.

"Not that one."

"But that's-" The slot for her own gun popped open and her Bren gun popped out.

"The two of us are going to duel, now."

"No. I don't want to!"

"She's right Perrine. Real guns are off limits when it came to duels!"

"Did you use real guns when you had your duel Ember?" I opened my mouth to protest but I knew she was correct about that. She might have guessed it, but it was true, I did use a real gun in the duel. The duel happened when we had came back from a mission and one of the Witches had an argument with me over a kill. Helma suggested a duel and we had one right on the spot. "Point made. Now Miyafuji, we aren't actually going to shoot each other. It's all about the mood and just the mood."

"But, I don't want to! Doing that kind of thing is not why I joined the Witches!"

"I swear, you were saying stupid things like that when you enlisted. I told you, it's just for show."

"I hate to admit it Yoshika but... I think the duel will be a bit more real with live firearms... Training paint guns don't bring up the same feeling..." I said quit glumly and all of us took off. I didn't bother bringing my gun since it was just a duel and I am doing is supervising. Going over the mainland's rolling hills to, we found a spot to begin duel. Flying higher than the rest to observe them, I heard Perrine explain everything over the radio.

"_Miyafuji, can you hear me? Whichever person take the other from behind for ten-seconds wins. That's all. You're okay with that, right?"_ Going into a hover, I lowered my magic consumption the lowest it could go to stay airborne when both Perrine and Yoshika crossed each other starting the duel. Perrine pulled around and started scanning for Yoshika who was staying low at tree top level. Perrine soon latched on and tried to get on her tail quickly but she made a fatal flaw of taking her on at low altitude. The Zero Striker Unit excels in low altitude combat and Yoshika was easily weaving in and out of Perrine's sight. When the air raid siren went off.

"_It's the alarm!"_

"_Have the Neuroi come!?"_ I heard Yoshika ask when Minna come onto the intercom.

"_East grid, sector 23. One Unit. It's on a course for London!"_

"_Commander! This is Perrine! Miyafuji, Ember, and I were, um... In the middle of training. We will go on ahead!"_

"_What did you say!? I haven't heard of any such schedule. You two stand by where you are, understood?"_

"_Y-Yes ma'am!" _I was now flying with the other two.

"Perrine!"

"You heard her. We've got to wait here until everyone-"

"I'm going on ahead!" Yoshika cut her off and zoomed on forward. "If we wait here, it will get away!"

"Oh, Yoshika..." I looked around for options of going back for my gun or following her and I shook my head before going after her.

"_W-Wait! That's against orders! Come back!"_

"_Don't worry about me! I got Ember with me!"_

"_But, she doesn't have a gun!"_

"No, I'll be fine Perrine! If anything we can slow it down for everyone else to come finish it off!"

"_Wait! Quit getting carried away! Hey!"_

"Come on Yoshika, we need to hurry!"

"Right!"

'_I just hope Yoshika's can shoot it down.'_ I clenched my hands into fists and gritted my teeth. _'Without a gun, I'm useless! It's up to you Yoshika...'_

* * *

_**Blaze's POV:**_

I woke up from my slumber still pretty tiered when I felt a Neuroi presence with my magical powers. This one was different from the others I've sensed before and I had a bad feeling about everything. Getting dressed, I went down to the hanger to get ready when I noticed Yoshika's, Perrine's, and big sis's Striker were missing.

'_She went on with the other? Wait... Her sling and backpack are still here...'_ Rushing over to her launcher, I pulled the lever to get the gun out and it was still in it's holder. _'She went to fight the Neuroi without a gun!?'_

"Hey, Blaze, what are you doing here?" Spinning around, I saw Shirley run into the hanger with Trude and Erica jumping into their Strikers.

"I'm here to go fight the Neuroi... I can sense it and... I have a bad feeling about this one."

"You're still tiered from your night Flight Vermillion." I heard Mio's voice call me and I pouted slightly.

"I've regenerated enough magic to go and fight Ms. Sakamoto! Plus, big sis is out there without a gun! I want to protect her!" Both Mio and Shirley gave me surprised looks when I said that and they looked at each other.

"... Fine, you can come with us. But, don't strain yourself to much all right!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Jumping into my own Striker, I grabbed my gun and had slight trouble starting my engines. I yawned slightly as they stuttered ever so slightly but roared to life adding to the noise in the hanger. Getting the order, Shirley, Lucchini, Mio, Erica, Lynne, and Trude took off into the sky and met up with Perrine only to find she was hovering alone looking a bit antsy.

"So, Miyafuji and Ember went after it by themselves? I would see why, but Ember doesn't have her gun!"

'_She went on with Yoshika after the Neuroi? What are you doing Sissy...'_

"I'm sorry. In actuality, I was the one who..."

"We'll talk about it after we take down the Neuroi!"

"Yes ma'am..." I know Sissy was an excellent Witch and Liberion's top Ace but... I was having this really bad feeling about off all of this when my engine stuttered slightly. I don't think anyone else noticed what had happened but I thought I saw Shirley glance my way for a second.

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

We were flying for some time now and we entered the area where the Neuroi should be. I could sense it as well, but beyond that, I have no clue where it was.

"Yoshika, once we spot the Neuroi, I will go high and observe how you handle the situation. You've been performing excellently in the past few days so I think you can take it on."

"But, Ember, I-"

"Don't worry. I will swoop in if I think you're in trouble. I'm not abandoning you."

"Right!" Off in the distance, I could see a red glint in the distance and both Yoshika and I came to the same conclusion. "Neuroi..."

"Good luck Yoshika." Pitching up, I started to climb until I was about 500 meters above her. As we both got closer, I finally saw the lone Neuroi flying at cloud level. It was a very small one and it didn't look like it had noticed Yoshika yet. She was flying above it and I knew she could easily take it on when it randomly took off to the right and started to fly up. Yoshika flew after it and I trailed behind. It started to fly around her in circles and I was starting to get antsy when it started to glow and Yoshika pointed her gun at it. But she didn't fire. "Yoshika!" The red light was getting brighter and I dove in, shield around my hand, and was about to punch it when a familiar voice spoke in my head.

"_Don't do it Ember."_ My eyed widened as I recognized the voice from my dreams and I slowed down, dispelling my shield. _"Just watch." _I heard the click as Yoshika took off the safety when the Neuroi stopped glowing and started to morph into... A Witch?

"Huh? Eeehh!?" The Neuroi changed itself... It looked... Human ish now. But most specifically a Witch with blocks that looked like ears and a Striker Unit. Yoshika let her finger slip from the trigger. It started to wave it's arms around and fly slightly side to side. "It's like a Witch..."I was now by Yoshika's side and observed the Neuroi carefully when it dove on her. "Wait... Wait a minute!" She held her hands out and it stopped it's descent.

'_What the hell is this... It's a Neuroi but... It's not fighting?'_ I thought when I remembered something. _'In a dream, she said there was some sort of messenger coming to meet me...Could this be...' _ We all were now flying side by side and I looked at this new Neuroi with wonder.

"Um... Nice to meet you. Who are you? Oh, you're a Neuroi, I guess." Yoshika started to talk to it. It was rather weird since it didn't have any eyes and what must have been an attempt at hair was covering most of it's face. "I can see that..."

"What are you Neuroi really..." I thought out loud when I heard her voice again.

"_Us Neuroi aren't all monsters as you can see Ember. Trust in us."_

'_Like hell I will trust you!' _I yelled in my mind but I thought a bit longer. _'Though this one is different... Just what are Neuroi...?'_ I looked in wonder as Yoshika reached out to touch it but it backed away. She moved in closer and it backed away. She backed away then and it mimicked her movement before going around in a circle.

"Could it be that you're teasing me?" Following close behind we both started to chase after it as it flew away. "Hey, wait up! Hey, come on!" We were starting a little game of chase and around we went "Hey! Come here!" I was too starting to have slight fun when Yoshika started to giggle when I started to laugh but I shut up quickly.

"What why..." I looked at the Neuroi as I remembered. "Why am I laughing... You're my enemy... What's your purpose of seeing us?"

"_The Neuroi isn't your enemy. The one in front of you isn't your enemy."_

"Like hell it isn't my enemy!" I then flew right next to it looking it over. It didn't look all to threatening but I still wasn't 100% sure. My eyes only went wide when it's chest opened up revealing the spinning red core. Part of me wanted to smash it to pieces but another part of me said don't. I didn't know which part of me should I listen to and started to reach out towards the core. _'... What if some of them aren't our enemy...'_

* * *

_**Blaze's POV:**_

We've been flying for some time now and we should have at least made contact with the enemy about now.

"Aren't we there yet, Minna!?"

"_Well... The Neuroi is turning back towards Gallia. It could be returning to base..." _My mind was racing at some possibilities when I flew up next to Mio.

"Do you think they're leading them into a trap?" She grimaced slightly when she gasped and lifted up her eye patch. "Wait, do you see them?" Squinting and using my powers, I could see three small dots in the distance and I can sense three figures... But one of them's a Neuroi.

"There's one other Witch besides Miyafuji and Ember... No, I can see the core!" I let out a small gasp.

"A Neuroi!?"

"What are you doing, Miyafuji!?" Mio yelled before taking off. I followed quickly since I could see Ember reaching for the Neuroi.

"Get away from that thing Ember!"

"_Sakamoto? Blaze?"_

"Shoot! Shoot Miyafuji! Ember, what the hell are you doing with that thing so close to you!"

"Get away from it!" Unslinging my gun, I flicked off the safety when Ember and Yoshika flew in front of it.

"_Don't shoot it! This Neuroi is different!"_ I heard my sister yell.

"What are you doing you two!? Destroy it!"

"_No! Please wait!" _Yoshika yelled trying to convince us but Mio and I aren't going to listen. The Neuroi are our enemy. They're a blight on our world and all need to be eliminated.

"Don't be fooled! That thing isn't human!"

"_No, this one's different from the others!"_

"Neuroi are monsters Sissy! Don't you remember how they destroyed the 370th!?"

"If you two aren't going to kill it, then move out of the way!" Bringing my gun up with Mio's, the Neuroi flew up out from behind the two of them giving Mio and I a clear shot. "Damn you!" We both opened fire when it shot two lasers at us. Mio and I both pulled up a shield but I watched as part of the laser passed through Mio's shield. My eyes widened from shock at what I saw when I acted on my instincts. I needed to protect her so I pulled up and pushed her out of the lasers path when my engines started to stutter from magic starvation. I tried to pull up a shield to block me from it but I depleted to much of my magic. A shield appeared in front of me but it only shattered as the laser beam contacted it. Pulling my gun up, trying to block the shot, it tore it's way through the gun's box magazine detonating the ammunition. I felt a searing pain from my chest as a laser passed right through it. Shrapnel from the explosion also dug into my chest causing deep cuts and multiple lacerations. Coughing up some blood, I felt to weak to scream and my Striker engines died sending me into a free fall.

"_Sergeant!"_ I heard the other's when I heard my sister's voice.

"_**Blaze!**__"_

'_I'm sorry about this sis...'_ was the last thing I thought as a wave of tiredness swept over my body. I closed my eyes and drifted off into darkness

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

"Blaze!" Reach my hand out, tears were streaming down my face as I watched her fall out of the sky towards the blue sea bellow. I felt powerless as I saw her falling out of the sky while Yoshika and Shirley diving right after her. My mind. A blank slate. A turmoil of feeling flooded my mind and vivid memories of my old base being destroyed.

'_Not again...'_ A memory of the hanger blowing up flashed in my mind as I held my face in my hands. _'Not again!'_ The explosion as a one of the Witch's Striker blew up and she fell to the ground in a fiery blaze. _'I'm not letting this happen ever again.'_

"You son of a fucking bitch..." I growled out as my mind was consumed into a blood rage Trude and Shirley were coming towards me to peruse the Neuroi but they froze in place, a look of horror on their face as they looked into my eyes. Turning around violently, glaring holes into the running Neuroi, I felt something just snap inside of me. The amount of anger I felt as I looked at the Neuroi is indescribable. I felt the rage building up inside of me and by now I was just reacting to instincts. I threw up my arm for reasons unknown when I saw a dark sheath form over it and a red laser beam shot out of my palm. My vision went black as some object covered my face before the world around me turned clear once more. Only the edges my sight had this slight translucent red coloring to it. I didn't care or mind what any of these changes and with my intercom still in my ear, I could still hear the conversations outside as I went on to peruse after the Neuroi that shot my sister.

"_What's wrong!? What happened!?" _Minna's voice seemed distant as I got closer and closer to the Neuroi.

"_B-Blaze saved the Major but was... Shot by the Neuroi!" _I heard Lynne explained the situations quite shaken up but I didn't care. when I shot out another laser beam.

"_But Mio pulled her shield up and Ember... Her eyes..."_

"_What are you talking about Trude? What happened with Ember!?"_

"_Her eyes... were glowing red and she... She transformed into-... Into a Neuroi!"_

"Come back here you son of a bitch." I let loose another laser beam, this time nicking it slight causing it to slow down and I grinned with joy as I was getting closer.

"_Sergeant Bishop... Take the shot."_

"_But Minna, that's Ember-"_

"_I said take the shot! That' an order!"_ Catching up to the Neuroi, I grabbed onto it's arm, turning it around and with a crazed smile, I lifted up my arm to punch it.

"You're mine no-" I felt a shot graze my left shoulder sending my tumbling down while also letting go of the Neuroi. It got away and I turned around to see who shot at me to see it was Lynne. The barrel of her gun was still smoking when Trude all of a suddenly appeared in front of me and drove the buttstock of her gun into my face with all her effort. I could see stars as I tumbled around when white crystals started to fall off my face.

'_Wait crystals...'_ Looking around, Trude, Erica, Lucchini, and Shirley have surrounded me, holding me at gun point. I guess the shock of being shot and punched in the face brought me back to my senses. I felt a slight trickle of a warm liquid stream down from my head when I looked down at my own body to see it was covered in a black armor. My eyes went wide as I realized it was the same black armor that was part of a Neuroi shell. Looking up at each and everyone one of them, they only had a disappointed yet confused frown on each of their faces. I looked at Shirley who had the most torn face of them all.

"Just... What are you Ember?" I heard Trude mumble out. "Are you our human... Or are you one of those Monsters?" Her words stung and I could feel the venom that laced her words but at the same time, I could feel the uncertainty in her voice as well. From face to face I looked at, I could see anger, confusion, and pain when I remembered what just happened and I looked around.

"Wait, Blaze! I must-" I tried to fly out when Trude knocked me back into the center. The black shell was still slowly regenerating where Trude first smacked me so I looked at the four Witch's, my four friends with a single pleading eye. The armor around me started to recede into my body before it was all gone, leaving in my army green uniform. "Please... Let me go see my sister..." Trude looked at Erica before the two of them flew to the side and I quickly flew down towards a beach where a a bright blue light was being eminated. Getting closer, I could see Blaze had washed up onto a beach and her P-61 Striker Unit was smashed and destroyed. It's black aluminum finish pealed and warped from it's original shape. Parts were missing internally and a whole engine was removed from the frame. Jumping out of my Striker's a little wobbly, I started to walk towards her slowly at first.

"Blaze... Blaze!" I was now at a full run to her when Mio pulled her sword out and held it to my neck effectively stopping me.

"One more step and I'm going to end right here." Her stone cold voice sent a shiver down my back and I nodded my head slightly. She pulled the sword away from my neck but Perrine was still glaring daggers at me as she kept her gun trained on me. Looking past Mio, I could see Blaze's face, blank and with her eyes closed. Falling to my knees, tears were streaming down my face into the sand.

"It's my fault... I should have destroyed the Neuroi when we first saw it." I sobbed out, slamming my fist into the sand. "I'm sorry Blaze... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you..." Looking at my hand, I noticed it had started to shake. Clenching it into a fist and grasping it in my other hand, I tried to calm down when I heard a voice behind me.

"I'm sorry about this." It belonged to Erica and I was about to turn around and question her when I felt a blow to the back of my head making my world go dark.

* * *

_**Shirley's POV:**_

I scowled slightly at how hard Erica hit Ember but... Part of me said it was the right thing to do. Mio sheathed her own sword and was looking at Ember with just as a confused face as we all were. Everyone else had landed and I slung my gun onto my back when I heard Yoshika.

"Please Blaze. Just open your eyes. Please, open your eyes!" Walking up to Mio, I looked down at Ember's unconscious body. My mind was racing and threatening to black me out from sensory overload when Trude spoke up.

"Mio... What do we do now? What the hell just happened with Ember? What about your shield failing!? Just what the fuck is going on!?" She exploded and I was shocked at Trude's sudden explosion. She was always calm and collected but I guess this was not the time to be calm and collected. So many things happened at once with Ember turning into what looked like a Neuroi, Mio's shield failing, and Blaze getting hurt in the process of it all.

"Calm down Lieutenant. I'm just as confused as we all are... Miyafuji, can Blaze be moved back to base?"

"I-I'm not sure." She was breathing quite hard and sweat was forming on her head.

"_I've got the medical staff alerted about your situation Mio... Return to base, all of you... Mio, I need a word with you once you return back to base."_ I heard Minna say and I looked down at Ember. Picking her up, it pained me to see some blood dripping down from head and the red spot in the side of her head where Erica hit her. Lucchini grabbed her Striker unit while with the help of Miyafuji, we got Blaze onto Trude's back while Erica had Blaze's broken Striker. We flew back to base in silence as we all took on what just happened and when we landed, medical personal quickly took away Blaze. Getting out of my Striker, I still had Ember in my arms when I looked over at Trude. She still had a single MG strapped to her back and cuffed Ember's hands together. I looked up at her with a, "Is that really necessary face," and she only turned around.

"Take her to Minna's office... And I'm not liking this any one bit Shirley... She's helped us out many times before and it just doesn't make sense of why she became neurified... Now come on, the Commander's waiting." Walking down with her, we went to the Commander's office and she told me to put her down in one of the chairs before asking for me to leave. I was still giving Trude wary looks since she still had her gun but I left without another word. My world was spinning around me as I flopped down on the couch and Lucchini came in with a really sad expression.

"I-Is Blaze and Ember going to be all right?" She was close to tears and I petted her head, cheering her up a bit.

"I'm sure Ember's fine and Blaze will be getting better. We will sort this problem out eventually." She buried her face into my chest as usual and I smiled, still stroking her head. "Ember's to kind of heart to hurt any one of us... She may have looked like a Neuroi but she went out of control for a just reason." I tried to tell myself. "Her sister was hurt and... She's not a monster I can assure you Lucchini."

'_No matter if she looks like a human a Neuroi... She's still going to be the Ember I know and love... No matter what, my feelings will not change.'_ I thought. _'But... Will she accept me if I asked her? Sanya and Eila are working out with each other... I wonder if Ember and I can...'_

* * *

**Well... What do you think? Didn't expect what happened? Leave a review bellow to tell me what you thought! ****Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	12. Chapter 12

_**Shirley's POV:**_

I was standing beside Miyafuji as she used her powers to heal up Blaze. She hasn't once opened her eyes since coming back to base and this worried me greatly. Though Blaze's injury is heavy on my chest, I promised Ember that I would protect Blaze whenever she's up in the air with me, and when Ember couldn't do it herself. I broke that promise and it had ended up with her on this medical bed unconscious with Miyafuji healing her up. She's been going on strong for a longtime now since we got back to base and only now her legs started to shake and threaten to give out from under her. She stumbled slightly, breathing heavily as Lynne caught her.

"Yoshika!" She had her eyes closed and took a deep breath before stepping up to Blaze again.

"Blaze..." She started to heal her again for a few seconds before she stumbled backwards.

"Miyafuji!" Catching her, she passed out for a second from exhaustion before she woke up again.

"Shirley, please! Let me go!"

"You're to worn out Miyafuji. You can't go on."

"But, Blaze!" Just then, the doctors returned with some haste and took the medical bed away into the operating room.

"The doctors are going to take care of her Miyafuji. You've used up to much magic to go on healing her." I reasoned with her when she slumped over in my arms. "Miyafuji!?"

"Yoshika, are you all right? Yoshika!?" Lynne was looked her over while I felt the rhythmic motion of her chest rising and falling.

"She's fine Lynne. She's just sleeping now..." With the help of Lynne, we got to her room and tucked under the covers. Leaving, I hung my head low before pressing my back up against the wall palm to my forehead. The guilt was eating away at me still when my thoughts drifted off to Ember who I haven't seen around yet either.

'_What are you planning to do with her Minna..."_

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

My head was pounding with a throbbing pain in my temples. The last thing I remember was the rough sand against my legs before I had a sharp blow to my head. Now, I feel what seems like a soft cushion under me while a metallic object clasped around me wrists. My vision was blurry when I first opened my eyes and I let them adjust. Looking down, I noted my hands were cuffed together when I heard the cocking of a gun. Looking up, I saw Minna at her desk, her red eyes staring at me with indecision and confusion, and Trude behind her glaring holes through me with one of her Mg42's in hand. Looking around I now know I'm in her office when her voice snapped my attention back to her.

"1st Lieutenant Vermillion," she said, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"Commander..."

"It has come to my attention that in out last encounter with the Neuroi... A series of events had occurred. Care to enlighten me on what happened with you?" I clenched my teeth remembering what happened a while ago.

"Well... There's nothing more I can say... You already know what happened out there Minna; what happened with me..."

"So it's true... You did transform into a Neuroi..." I heard her whisper. Shifting around slightly to try and get a little more comfortable, I froze as Trude raised her gun at me. "Lieutenant Barkhorn, lower your weapon!" Looking past the barrel of the Mg42, I could see her eyes had a sort of burning fury behind them.

"Commander, we can't take any of her actions lightly. She's one of them Minna. She's a Neuroi for peats sake!" She walked out from behind the desk, her gun trained on me the whole time and I looked away from her.

"Barkhorn, stand down!" Minna cried, a hint of desperation in her voice as she started to lose her composure.

"Minna, she's a Neuroi! We can't trust them! You of all people should know that all Neuroi should just be destroyed! They've killed millions of people, innocent people, and they are still going on destroying everything we love! They killed Kurt, they've killed numerous Witches, and they are a threat to humanity!" She was now standing in front of me and I still had my head lowered in thought. I knew what she said was all true and I can't stand the thought that I might be one of the enemy. It just sickens me knowing that I might just be a Neuroi so I lifted my head and placed it against the barrel of the gun.

"Take the shot Trude... End this nightmare I am in..." I said quietly. I didn't want to risk hurting others and I looked into her eyes. She had her teeth clenched and the gun started to shake. I could see her trigger finger tense up and was trembling before it lifted and she looked away in disgust.

"I just... I can't... I'm sorry Ember, I didn't mean to-... I'm not... I'm not in the right mind set at the moment..." she said in a hushed voice. She quickly left the room leaving only myself and Minna. We sat in silence for a second when she started to speak again.

"Tell me, when you were in the Neurified state, did you harm any Witches?"

"I didn't Commander."

"Did you have control of yourself when you were Neurified?"

"I... I had control over what I could do..." She got up from her seat and walked over to me, taking my hands and uncuffed them.

"Then there's no reason for me to hold you in custody 1st Lieutenant." I rubbed my wrists but Trude's words were still heavy in my mind. "But for disobeying direct orders, you will be subjected to some punishment. You will be bard from using your Striker for any practice or combat missions for a four day period starting today."

"Say... Minna... Do you think I am a monster?" I asked tentatively and she only frowned.

"What I think of you, Ember, is as another fellow Witch. I do admit I'm a little shaken up with what I heard with you... Turning into a Neuroi." She grabbed one of her arms and looked off to the side. "A small part of me fears and resents you for being a Neuroi, but once I looked pass the hatred, I see a friend of mine and a fellow Witch of the 501st; not a monster. Trude has some difficulty with the Neuroi was the cause of the loss of Karlsland and the injury of her sister as well. Some of the others might take some time getting used to this new discovery and... I'm sorry about your sister..." Hearing the door open behind me, I saw Mio at the door. Asked to leave the two alone in private, I quickly ran down to where the entrance to the operating room was. The light above the door was still on and I knew I couldn't enter. Sitting down on a bench, I began to wait when someone sat down next to me. Looking to my side I saw it was Shirley and I smiled lightly before looking back at my feet.

"Hey, how you holding up?" She asked and I staid silent. "I see... That bad..."

"It's my fault..." I mumbled.

"It's not your fault Ember. No one saw what would happen with Mio and Blaze."

"But I could've destroyed the Neuroi before it hurt her, Shirley..."

"Then what stopped you from destroying it?" Sitting up right, I only now remembered what the voice in my head said about this Neuroi.

"Well... You know about that voice from my dreams?" I asked and she nodded. "Same voice talked to me when I met that Neuroi... It didn't fire at us when we first met it and it only fired back once we started to shoot at him as well."

"Mmm" Was all she said and silence continued between us when I spoke up.

"Hey, do you see me as a monster?" She looked at me with surprise before her face softened up into a smile. She shook her head with a smile.

"I said it before Ember, I'm always going to be by your side. I don't care if others might shun you as being an enemy, a Neuroi, but I will always be by your side. No matter if it's the you who is right beside me, or it's a you with a black shell covering your skin, I will always be with you Ember." Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes just from happiness and I went in to hug her. With her excepting it greatly, I started to think if I should confess to her right here and now when I decided to do it.

'_To hell with it all. If she will be by my side and show bravery to accept who I am, then I will be brave as well.'_

"Say, Shirley, I have something I wanted to ask you."

"Say, Ember, I have something I wanted to ask you." We both said at the same time.

"Oh, please, you first Shirley." She looked off to the side, scratching her cheek a light blush on her cheeks.

"O-Oh! A-ll right then! I uuhh... I just wanted to ask you if... What I mean to say is do you... Oh to hell with it all!" She cupped my cheeks into her hands and pulled me into a kiss. My eyes widen initially from shock of the sudden action, but I soon started to close my eyes from bliss and press into the kiss. Breaking away from each other, we were blushing heavily each when I smiled.

"Charlotte..."

"I wanted to say I love you Ember. I've fallen for you since when I first met you." My emotions were starting to melt into a puddle of glee and happiness from what I heard and I embraced her tightly.

"I-I wanted to say that I love you too Shirley... I just was never confident to tell you as well..." Pulling away from the embrace she pecked my cheek, causing me to blush even more, and I leaned back in my seat, resting my head on her shoulder. "I too had fallen for you when I first joined the 501st. You were the first one to really reach out to me and you also the one I can connect with the most. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

"I do too Embs." She petted my head slightly when the light to the operation room turned off. Standing up, I saw a doctor at the door.

"What's her conditions?"

"It's too soon to make any predictions. You may go in and see her." Quickly rushing past him, I saw her laying in a bed hooked up to this device and my heart broke slightly. Taking a chair, I sat at the top of the bed, watching over her as she slept. Shirley stood at the door way before saying she had to go make some food for everyone and left. Looking at my sister, her face was so peaceful and that only made things worse when I heard the door creak open again. Looking up, I saw it was both Lynne and Yoshika.

"Oh, hey you two." I gave a slight wave to them. "Aren't you up a bit early Yoshika?" She only ignored me and ran up to Blaze, beginning to heal her again. "No, wait Yoshika. You've all ready used to most of your magic today. Please, don't strain yourself any longer."

"No, Ember, I must do this. Blaze is your sister and I won't stop until we know she will recover completely. She risked her life to save Ms. Sakamoto and I want to make sure she will live through this." I remained silent for a while as Yoshika did her work on Blaze when the vital signs machine started to make a noise. At the same time, Blaze's body was tensing up and her face was contorted with pain.

"Yoshika, her pulse is dropping!" Gripping my sister's hand, I willed for her to survive. "I'll call the doctor!" Lynne said and ran out of the room leaving only Yoshika and myself with Blaze.

"Why...? I'm putting so much magic into it... If only Mom and grandma were here now..." She dropped her head nearly breaking out into tears and I looked up at her and grabbed her shoulder's getting her attention.

"Your mother and grandma might not be here, but you are here! No one else here can save her Yoshika, but yourself! Please, save my sister!" Tears were once again falling from my eyes as the thought of loosing my sister crossed my mind.

"Only me..." She looked at me before down at Blaze and all her expressions of doubt left her face, replaced with confidence. "That's right, I'm the only who can!" She closed her eyes as if focussing and Blaze's heart rate was slowing down further. "Calm down and concentrate..." A blue aura of her healing powers soon grew larger and brighter until it filled the whole room. Standing up, I held my hands together as if for some sort of pray when the light started to fade. Yoshika was starting to fall unconscious since she used a deal of her magic earlier. Reaching out, my hand turned black as the Neuroi armor wrapped itself around it and the moment I touched Yoshika's shoulder, I felt my own magic reserves start to drain. The light was soon back to it's former bright shine when I too passed out. When I came to again, I was back in my room and Shirley was sleeping at the end of the bed.

'_D'aw~ She must have carried me back to my room and fell asleep while watching over me!'_ Looking at how vulnerable she was at the moment, I slowly moved around, making sure not to wake her up and gave a quick peck on her lips to wake her up.

"Morning sleepy head.~" I sang as she yawned, stretching her arms off to the side before sitting up.

"Well, that's one thing to wake up to." She chuckled before kissing me. "How did you sleep?" I stretched my arms behind my back.

"Good. Refreshed and no weird dreams this time... Though what about Blaze? Last thing I remember, I was transferring magic to Yoshika to heal Blaze-"

"Wait, you can transfer magic?" She cut me off.

"Well... I'm not sure how to control it yet but... I think I am able to transfer magic when I'm in my Neurified form..." Raising my right hand up, I looked at it wondering if I could control how it works when her voice returned to my head.

"_Will the Neuroi form to come to the surface Ember. It's one small step in mastering your power."_ I scowled slightly as I started to have my mental conversation with "her."

"_What do you think you can do to persuade me to do anything you tell me to after how that 'friendly' Neuroi put my sister into a fucking coma!"_

"_That was an accident Ember. The Neuroi that contacted you never meant to harm Blaze. She only reacted on instinct for being fired upon Ember."_

"_... That still doesn't mean I trust you."_

"Yo, earth to Embs! What's with the weird facial expressions?" Shirley asked, poking my cheek. I gave her a slight annoyed look at first, but I guess I was making some faces in the mental conversation.

"Nothing..." I said. "By the way, did my sister wake up yet?" She only shook her head and I sighed. Getting out of my bed, I looked into the mirror I had and what I saw disturbed me. It was me... Or at least I thought it was someone that looked like me. My hair was rather messy and a white bandage was wrapped around my head, a small red spot seeping through. Slight bags were under my eyes and they only stood out with my pale white skin. With my stomach growling, I knew it was about time for some breakfast so Shirley and I went down to breakfast. She held my hand the whole way and when we entered, I saw her give a quick wink towards Eila.

I didn't pay much thought to their interaction as I took a plate of food. Sitting down across from Eila with Shirley, she only cracked a smirk but said nothing. The environment in the room was rather tense as I felt eyes on either staring or glancing in my direction. Finishing my food rather quickly, I walked down to the hanger to find that both my Jet Striker and regular Striker were in chains, completely locked up. On a spare table, under a piece of cloth, I could see a small bent black wing of my sister's Striker. Sitting down in front of my Strike, I looked at my hand, remembering what _she_ said about my powers. Willing for the Neurification to happen, my right arm was encompassed with the black armor of a Neuroi. It took me by surprise at first but it also interested me. Looking at it, the Neurification went up to my shoulder but it also felt light though I also noted that my familiar features were also out. Moving and flexing my arm around, I had my full range of movement. In the palm of my hand there was also a red pad where a Neuroi usually shoots their laser out of. Standing up, I experimentally started to add more Neuroi pieces over my body until I had the full suit on. Hearing a squeak, I turn around to see Perrine standing at the entrance of the hanger holding her hands over her mouth. Her face seemed to pale the longer she looked at the "Neuroi" in the hanger. Pieces on my head started to move away and float in mid air while others folded back, exposing my face and head completely, calming her down slightly.

"It's all right Perrine. I'm not going to hurt you... Just trying this new power out..." She took a breath and tried to smile.

"G-Good... I-I wanted to say sorry for earlier..."

"Huh?"

"When you were trying to be by your sister on the beach... I thought you were one of them as well but... I can now see you're one of us; a fellow Witch." She quickly turned around and left and her words made me smile lightly.

'_Maybe they can accept me with this power...'_ I thought when I heard two Striker engines. Dispelling the Neuroi shell and running outside, I looked up into the sky, hand over my eyes, and saw both Anne and Seris coming in. They landed quickly and didn't even bother about their Strikers as they quickly jumped out both embracing me.

"Ember! Are you all right!?" Anne whined.

"We came as quickly as we could when we heard the news! Oh, the nuggets are also worried about you!" The two hadn't dispelled their magical features and were quite literally squeezing the living daylight out of me.

"Seris! Anne!" I gasped out, "I can't... Breath!" The two of them let me go quickly apologizing when Seris gave me a concerned look.

"But Ember... The reports also stated that you... You know..." I nodded my head and raised my arm up across my chest, having it Neurified. The two gasped lightly but only smiled.

"Some of the nuggets were wondering if you were going to be their enemy now since you were a Neuroi but... You're different from them. You're not a monster like the Neuroi are, you're different." She patted my shoulder when Seris got me into a head lock.

"We both knew you wouldn't turn on both your friends right?" She slyly smiled and I sweat dropped calling uncle for her to release me when I questioned why they were both here. They said that they got special permission from their commander to come down here and they could bring all of their equipment since there was a slight Neuroi threat in the area. I was rather content having both of them not only as company, but also to bring up our fire power with the aid of two more Witches. We started to talk about how we've been before we all visited Blaze. To my disappointment, she was still in a coma when we visited her when Shirley suggested we all take a bath. I got an extra towel for out two guests and we all got changed before taking a dip into the hot water.

"God, Ember, I think your spoiling Anne and I." Seris moaned out in bliss. "You get this large bath house while back on our base, we only have showers..."

"Could be worse Seris," Anne commented. "You know some of our Witches down in Africa don't even get proper showers or baths? They have to take one in a barrel."

"Barrel baths? Hhhmm... Doesn't sound all to bad actually." Shirley said. I scooted closer to her when Trude, Eila, Sanya, Lucchini, and Erica came in, joining us. Everyone didn't seem so tense around me as they were earlier today. The entire base was nearly here in the tub with extra room to spare when both Yoshika and Lynne joined as well.

"Here we are!" Lynne announced as she walked in with Yoshika.

"Over here!" Lucchini swam out a bit and motioned them to join right next to Shirley and I.

"Hey, Miyafuji," Shirley turned towards Yoshika, "I heard you got confined to your room!" She wrapped and arm around her shoulder. "Good thing it was only that!" She pulled her into a head lock and her eyes went wide as her face was buried into her voluptuous chest. I felt slightly jealous of her but I couldn't tell if her eyes were going wide with shock or in bliss...

"Shirley got the imprisonment penalty five times!" Lucchini commented with a sly smile.

"Get real you idiot! It was four times! Four times!"

"And might I ask why you were imprisoned four times Shirley?" Anne asked.

"Well... They all were then they found me tinkering with my Striker Unit. Saying that, 'All my modifications to my Striker was illegal,' and such things like that. But those modifications were harmless!"

"Uncle Sam can get pretty annoyed when you mess with their equipment you know." Seris face palmed lightly when Erica spoke up.

"I got the penalty six times! Hahahaha!" Everyone broke into laughter when Yoshika all of a suddenly stood up.

"Everyone listen! Umm, I felt that the Neuroi was different from the others! We may not have to fight the Nueroi after all-"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Trude cut her off.

"But, back there, we understood each other... Ember, you said something about how they weren't your enemy back there right?" She looked at me with a pleading look but I only shook my head.

"I'm not sure if the words I heard were true but... A voice did say that that Neuroi didn't mean to hurt anyone..."

"Ember, that _thing_ shot at us and injured your sister!" Trude yelled at me.

"Well, it shoot back at us after both Mio and Blaze opened fire upon it..." I said quietly.

"Miyafuji, do you know what the Neuroi have done up until now? They've done nothing but antagonize people. Are you on the side of the Neuroi?!"

"But this Neuroi was different from the others!"

"Have you fought them long enough to know the difference!?"

"Yoshika might not have the experience as you Trude, but I do!" I stood up as well. "This one was different than the others!"

"Says the one who turned into one!" Trude was starting to get pretty worked up when Erica started to laugh.

"I heard a human-shaped one appeared, but even so..."

"You mean the one at Kauhava Base?" Eila jumped in, "That's just a rumor."

"But what about the recent singing Neuroi?"

"That was a trap!" The atmosphere was tense again when Yoshika's expression changed to a one of shock

"Yoshika.~" Lucchini sung and her tone sent a shiver down my spine. "Cheer up! Wugyah!"

"Wooooaaahhh!"

"Double bomber!" She went on to grab onto her chest.

"S-Stop, Lucchini!"

"Have you grown?" I looked over as Eila asked while Sanya groped herself and only shook her head.

"Nope..."

"They aren't big enough..." Lucchini drooped her head slightly when her eyes sparked as she looked at Lynne, a glint in her eyes.

"W-What is it Lucchini?" And the chase began around with them going around the tub. Trude was face palming hard at what she was seeing while I just leaned back my head.

"Do this usually happen in the bath Ember?" Seris whispered to me and I only shook my head.

"It's rare for this many people to be in the bath at once so not reallyyyYYYYY!" I looked down to see Lucchini going for a frontal assault on me. Her grin only grew larger as she felt me up.

"My, my Ember! You keep on growing every time! At this rate, you should be just as large as Shirley!" She cheered before nestling into Shirley's chest. "Hhhmmmm~ Now this is what I'm talking about!"

"I wonder if it's fun..." Erica spoke her thoughts.

"It's just stupid..." Not before long, Erica jumped and latched onto Trude, and said person let out a yell of surprise. "W-What are you doing!?"

"You're pretty big, too, Trudey!"

"T-T-These things are useless in combat! They just get in the way!"

"'These things'?" Shirley questioned and everyone broke out into laughter. The bathtub shenanigans went on throughout the bathing season. Soon, everyone else had left the bath to get dressed when large black clouds loomed over the base, dropping bucket loads of rain. Seris and Anne went to the room they are going to be staying in while Eila, Shirley, and myself hung out in the sauna. I was sitting next to Shirley and Eila was across from us when she cracked a devious smirk.

"Say, you two are sitting rather close to each other don't you think?" Realizing what she meant, I scooted off to the side slightly causing her to laugh. "So I guess you did ask her Shirley!"

"W-What do you mean?" I stuttered, giving the two girls weird looks when Shirley scooted closer to me and pecked me on the cheek. My face instantly flared up to a shade of red that matched my hair color and I stared at her before at Eila. "S-Shirley! But, Eila-"

"It's fine Ember. Eila knows everything." I looked at said person and I scowled slightly.

"Shirley was the one that came to me Ember. She asked if it could work out between you two and I gave her advice about the relationship. Only today did I tell her to try and find out if you too had feeling to each other. I guess it worked out.~" I glared at her lightly before leaning back.

"That explains the directness of her asking," I chuckled lightly, "though going right up and kissing me? Little risky, but it worked out." We all shared a laugh when I thought of something. "I just realized... I never thanked Yoshika for her healing my sister." Getting up, I dressed and went to Yoshika's room noting the lock she had on her door. Knocking on it I took a deep breath before talking saying, "Hey, Yoshika? I'd like to say thank you for saving my sister back there. I really appreciate it."

Getting no response, I started to worry slightly so I knocked again. "Yoshika?" Getting no response again, I pressed my ear up against the door and focused on my hearing. I thought I could hear the faint whoosh of the wind which worried me. Knowing I couldn't just open the door with the lock on it, the only option I had was to break it down. Using my magic to enhance my strength, I broke the door handle and mechanism off and pushed in the door. Her room was vacant and her window was open with her bed sheets hanging out of it. "God, damn it Yoshika!" No one had investigated what the noise was yet so I sprinted down to the hanger to find her Striker unit was missing from their Launcher Unit. I looked around for options when I spotted my Striker Unit. I knew I had to fly after her, even if it meant getting court marshaled, I was going after Yoshika. Grabbing the chains, I started to pull with all my strength but got nowhere. My arms then Neurified and it must have amplified my strength for the chain links finally broke apart. Wasting no time, I just jumped into my Striker starting it up. Thankfully, the storm was covering up most of the noise of the Jet striker, but it was still noisy as hell. With the engines spooled up, I let go and quickly got airborne. Knowing Yoshika, she must have went back towards the location where we met the humanoid Neuroi before. The rain was soaking my clothes but I didn't care.

'_Please, don't do anything stupid Yoshika!'_

* * *

_**Shirley's POV:**_

It's been a while since Ember left both Eila and I and now Commander Minna had called for us to gather in the meeting room. Knowing Ember must be there all ready, I didn't bother to search for her. I started to worry when I didn't see her there among the rest of our squad. Even Seris and Anne were here, looking around quit worriedly. Taking my seat, Minna slapped her hand onto the desk.

"Miyafuji had escaped!"

"Escaped?" I questioned, getting an uneasy feeling.

"Vermillion is also missing as well. The chains to her P-80 are broken and said Striker is missing as well.

'_What the hall are you doing Ember.'_ I thought, gritting my teeth.

"It'll be bad if headquarters catches wind of this. Let's get those two back here immediately!" She ordered when the phone began to ring. "Yes, 501st- Your Excellency!" My heart sank slightly. "But, that is... No, I understand..." She put the phone down heavily and looked up at all of us. "Headquarters has given us the order to shoot down Miyafuji and apprehend Vermillion..."

"Commander, we can't follow that order!" I slammed my fist down on the table.

"Lieutenant Yeager, we have our orders... Everyone, move out and locate Miyafuji and Vermillion..." I couldn't believe what Command had ordered us to do... But I trust Minna had something else in plan. The 510st is our large family and we just can't simply shoot down Miyafuji... "Do you two mind joining us in the search? I know you're our guest's but we're short some people." She addressed both Seris and Anne and the two of them nodded slowly. Getting up from our seats, we all ran down to the hanger and up into the stormy sky we all went.

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

I've been flying for some time now and I still haven't found Yoshika. The weather isn't helping either but I caught a break when the sky started to clear up into a bright blue sky. Then in the distance, I saw Yoshika hovering in position looking around.

"Yoshika!" I yelled out. She turned around and looked at me with surprise when out of the sky, the humanoid Neuroi fell. A wave of anger came over me as I Neurified my whole body and reached my hand out to shoot a laser when a voice spoke in my head.

"_Wait, Ember, don't shoot!"_ It wasn't the same voice as before and the Neuroi stuck its hands out towards me. _"I'm sorry about your sister! I didn't mean to hurt her!"_ Slowing down, I glared at her while Yoshika looked between us quite confused. _"As you humans have names to address each other, you can call me Mechta. Please, it's not safe here, follow me."_ She instantly turned around and started to fly towards this large black cloud. It looked like a cone of some sort and both Yoshika and I followed closely.

'_If she can talk, then why didn't she say something before hand...'_ I thought when we started to fly up into the black cloud.

"Wow, it's like a wall of clouds!" Yoshika gasped at the whole size when I remember where I saw this thing before.

"It's the Neuroi hive..." Into the hive we went and everything turned darker as the Neuroi showed us the way through before we entered this large dome shaped room. Hexagonal patterns made up the walls when we found Mechta hovering above the flat floor of the room, a core right next to her. "Wow, this is what it's like inside the hive?" I thought aloud when the walls began to glow different colors.

"W-What's this?" We hovered right next to Mechta near the floor of the hive when a large map of Europe appeared. Soon other panels started to appear with some images or what looked like a motion picture. It started with Earth and went onto what looked like Hawker Hurricanes flying up and shooting at the large black cloud of a Neuroi hive. A Neuroi soon fell from the clouds and went on to decimate the town bellow it. On went another video of when a Neuroi was fighting Mio.

"What are you trying to tell us?" Yoshika questioned Mechta when another video appeared of some people in lab coats around a... A Neuroi core! It then went to a short image of a lab and a metal object inside of it. It was obstructed by some wires and pipping but I thought it looked rather familiar. A video of when Yoshika and I were first meeting Mechta appeared followed up the last one. Looking at Mechta, I wondered why she hadn't said anything to us yet when I tried to communicate to it again.

"_What are you trying to tell us?"_

"_There's a threat made by your people." _She finally said before she looked off to the side and disappeared. Another screen appeared showing her outside of the hive looking down at Shirley, Lucchini, Trude, Erica, Seris, Anne, and Minna. Hairs on the back on my neck only started to stand up when I felt another Neuroi pressence in the area. Before I could sense only Mechta's for some reason, but now I feel a second one in the distance. I was getting antsy about this as the group of Witches dispersed in pairs when I saw a red glint of a metallic object. When it flew up and around I got a good look at it. It was the same metal object that I've saw in my dream months ago. My senses were starting to overload from dread and shock when pulled around and started to shoot at Mechta. My eyes darted towards a white plume originating from a wall and I heard the whiz of bullets fly past my ear. I couldn't react fast enough to pull up a strong enough shield to block the rain of bullets and shrapnel. I heard what ever shield I could muster in the split second I had shatter and I felt my left leg jerked backwards as something tore through metal and flesh. My head snapped off to the side and my vision in my left eye had completely vanished when I felt something pierce through my gut. Pain radiated throughout my body causing to lose control over my magic and I fell to the ground, screaming my head off in pain. I could feel a warm liquid seeping out between my shut left eye lids, blood pooling from my gut and I couldn't feel much in my left leg either. Yoshika quickly was at my side but what I saw through my right eye was anything but good. Lifting my head up, I could see the metal on my left Striker Leg was torn and bent in weird ways with blood splattered on the aluminum skin. In my gut, I saw a large white Neuroi fragment sticking out of me, covered completely in blood. I clenched my teeth together as another wave of pain came over me, my vision starting to fade slightly when Yoshika spoke up.

"Come on Ember, stay with me!" I felt spike in pain as the fragment moved slightly, and I let out another scream. "Please, bare with me as I pull this out." Clenching my teeth, I could feel it slowly leaving me before it was out of me completely. I let out a gasp of pain as my vision faded ever so slightly as I lost more blood when soothing sensation came over my body as Yoshika began to heal me. Though with her magic suppressing some of the pain, he amount I was still feeling kept my body rigid.

"W-What are you doing?" I weakly spoke out.

"I'm saving you Ember! Please, don't try to speak!" She urged me but a worried squeak came out as I coughed up some blood.

"D-Don't waste your energy on me... Get out of here..." I looked at one of the screens through my blurry vision to see the metal machine had transformed and was charging up what looked like a laser beam. Clenching my fist, I pushed through the pain and stood up ignoring Yoshika's protests for me to stop. "Run Yoshika, get out of here." I said with a bit more strength. With one hand, I held it over my still bleeding stomach wound and the other one up to form a shield in front of myself and Yoshika. She urged me again to stop moving when I saw the machine fire a laser off. "**Get the fuck out of here Miyafuji!**" I yelled with all my might as the laser beam started to carve its' way through the room. She looked at me, tears in her eyes and I was glad to see her start to fly away. Pumping what ever magical energy I could muster into the shield, I took on the force of the laser beam. The edges started to crack and break away the longer I held on and the more blood I lost, the less energy I had to hold up the shield.

"I'm sorry about this Shirley... I love you..." A single tear fell down my cheek as my arm fell slack at my side and I slipped into an eternal slumber.

* * *

_**Shirley's POV:**_

"It that thing a Neuroi too!?" I yelled out as I saw the beam obliterate the Neuroi and continue through the hive.

"It's strong!" I heard Erica say as Lucchini and I formed up with the commander.

"What the hell is it!? It took out the Neuroi with one hit!"

"That beam has some serious fire power."

"UGGGWAAAAHHH!" Lucchini yelled before taking off.

"Huh?" I looked where she was diving.

"Yoshika!"

"Oh, shit! Miyafuji!" I dove down caught her when I started looking around for Ember, but I didn't see her anywhere. Bringing Miyafuji back up to Minna, I was still looking around for Ember finding no signs of her anywhere.

"Are you okay, Yoshika?" Lucchini asked.

"Yeah..." Her eyes were dull and void of any life. It disturbed me seeing this in a girl who usually is so cheerful and happy all the time.

"Miyafuji, where's Ember?" I tried to keep my composer and a clear tone, but I couldn't help the shakiness in my voice. Only now did I notice the blood on her clothes and hands.

"Ember she... That metal thing... When it shot the laser, it... She's gone..." Miyafuji spoke out through sniffles.

"Gone...?" I questioned, my voice nearly a whisper.

'_No, it can't be... She can't be gone! She's to strong to just die like that... She just can't be dead.'_ I thought gripping my head, staring at the ocean bellow as I began to weep silently. Looking up, everyone had some sort of shocked facial expression on with what Yoshika said when Lucchini began to cry into my chest.

"Shirely! Ember can't be gone right? She just can't!" I tried to comfort her by petting her head when I looked towards Trude. She was looking off to the side, a grim frown on her face.

"She was so strong to just die like that... How is she... Dead..." I then looked on over at Minna who had a distant stare and slight empty eyes.

"Not again..." She whispered out.

"Minna, just what the hell was that thing!?" I asked, flying up to her trying to snap her out of her daze

"I-I don't know..." She stuttered out when she gave a stern look at Miyafuji. "Sergeant Miyafuji, you will be detained for the crime of absence without leave. We will figure everything out when we return to base!"

"But Commander, that _**thing**_ just killed Ember! We can't return to base like this-"

"I said return to base!" She yelled. No one else objected and the flight back to base was a silent and lonely one. I don't know what was keeping me going through out the flight to base. I just wanted to fall down somewhere and start to cry and morn over Ember... My lover... Both Anne and Seris didn't say anything either as they flew back to base. Seris had these ghostly empty eyes the whole way back and Anne was only shaking her head side to side occasionally as if she was trying to deny what she heard was correct.

'_Oh god... How will Blaze react to this news?'_ I just thought and I bit my bottom lip trying to shake the thought when I tasted the coppery taste of blood. _'And her mother's in London...'_

"Huh? Someone's there." Lucchini pointed out bringing me back to the present. Looking closer, I could see nine figures on the runway. Four in a quarter circle spread apart around a single figure in a black outfit. Getting closer, it was the last son of a bitch I wanted to see; Trevor Maloney. We all landed and he smirked.

"Good work, Commander Minna." I was getting an uneasy feeling about what's going on when I heard a noise above us. Looking up, I saw a metal object transform and land behind Maloney.

"That's the same one!" Erica mumbled.

"That's the thing that killed Ember!" I mumbled to myself, my fist shaking when the eight soldiers surrounded us and drew their weapon on us. Just what the hell is going on today? Please, I just want this nightmare of a day to be over with...

* * *

**I'll just leave this chapter here for all of you readers to contemplate on the events of this chapter Heehee. ****Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much...**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Just a note before you start reading, be ready for multiple Point of View changed throughout the story so I hope I'm not going to confuse you much.**_

* * *

_**Blaze's POV: -10 minutes before Witches Return to Base-**_

I opened my eyes, finding myself in an unfamiliar room. My memory was fuzzy as I tried to remember what happened before hand when I realized I was shot by the Neuroi. Turning my head, I looked around the unknown room and saw this weird machine that looked like a heart monitor and a curtain. Other than that, the room was empty. I tried to sit up with some difficulty when the door opened. In stepped both Ms. Sakamoto and Perrine who gave me a relieved look.

"Ah, Blaze, you're awake!" Perrine clasped her hands together. "That's great news!"

"How are you feeling Vermillion?" Ms. Sakamoto asked me.

"My body feels all right but it's hard to move limbs at the moment..." I looked around the room thinking that more people would come in, but no one else did. "Hey... Have you seen my sister?" The two of them exchanged glances which only meant trouble.

"About your sister..." Mio started to explain everything to me from when my sister turning into a Neuroi to the current situation of how the majority of our fighting force was off base pursuing both Yoshika and Ember at this moment. I was surprised how easily I took in the information about my sister turning into a Neuroi. To anyone else, I'm sure they would be freaking out and denying everything but... I just took it all in.

With Perrine's and Sakamoto's help, they got me into a wheel chair when Ms. Sakamoto started to scowl slightly.

"Blaze, I need to ask a favor from you..." This perked my interest and I nodded. "There's this gut feeling I'm having right now, and I need your assistance with something." Agreeing, she took me down to the hanger. I was wondering why she took her Striker Unit off her Launcher and started to pull it apart slightly. She asked me to pull my legs off to the side and I did so with some strain and she quickly placed the Striker into the wheel chair. Getting up, she asked Perrine to check if everything's all right and snug for me when the hanger spot lights came on. Quickly covering up my legs with a blanket, I squinted slightly as Mio mumbled, "Damn, it started..." Not saying a word, some soldiers came in, ordering us to get outside and join the other Witches. Shielding my eye from the bright sun, I heard Minna's little conversation with this man who I'm guessing is a General. Behind Minna was Trude, Erica, Lucchini, Shirley, Yoshika, Anne, and Seris. Though when I looked at the three of them, they only gave me some weird looks in return... What worried me the most, though, was that I didn't see my sister among the group. The red stains on Yoshika's uniform also was mysterious to me as well.

"This looks like a coup d'état, General Maloney!" I heard Minna speak out.

"It's an official transfer based on orders, Commander Minna. As of now, this base is taken over by the 1st Special Assault Team a.k.a. Warlock.

"Warlock?"

"As for the other two Witches here, you are ordered to return to your original base immediately," he addressed both Seris and Anne.

"Yes, sir..." The two of them saluted before taking off without another question but I could see the annoyance in their eyes. Mio handed over her sword as well when Eila, Sanya, and Lynne were escorted out of the base towards our group.

"Are all of the Witches present?"

"That would be a negative, **Sir.**" Minna commented, her voice was rock solid and she nearly spat out the word, "Sir."

"Then which Witch isn't accounted for?"

"That would be 1st Lieutenant Vermillion."

"And where might she be at this time? I thought I asked you to detain her once found."

"We tried sir, but that thing behind you killed her." My eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat.

'_She's been... Killed?'_

"The Warlock had confirmed two kills on its' first sortie and both were identified as Neuroi Commander. It's impossible for this machine to attack any Witches... And now that I think of it, according to your reports, 1st Lieutenant Vermillion was said to have turned into a Neuroi. All Neuroi are the enemy Commander so I will continue on with what I was saying." My mind was racing with what he said about my sister. That thing killed her and... I couldn't see her in the end... A single tear fell down my face as I looked down, eyes closed. My body felt numb as he continued on with what ever he was saying.

"Are you Sergeant Yoshika Miyafuji?" He must have been addressing Yoshika.

"Yes sir..."

"You disobeyed military regulations and deserted. Is that right?"

"Eh... Military regulations... Uh... That, behind you..."

"Hm, hm, hm," I heard him laugh lightly. "Are you talking about the Warlock?"

"I saw that! It was in the same room as the Neuroi, some sort of laboratory!" I looked up at what she said and Maloney reacted funnily to her question.

"What are you talking about!?"

"But, I saw it!"

"Answer my question! You deserted, isn't that right?"

"Yes, sir, but..."

"Commander, I thought I ordered you to shoot down the deserter as well." He turned to Minna.

"Yes sir, but-"

"Two squad members plot to desert. In order to follow her, a superior officer ignores orders from headquarters. How very unfortunate. Commander Minna, and the rest of the Witches... As to this very moment, the 501st Join Fighter Wing, Striker Witches, is disbanded!"

"What!?" All of us voiced out but I didn't care. I felt like an empty shell now and the only other time I felt like this was when my father died...

'_Now that Ember's gone... What am I supposed to do? I was fighting to protect her but...'_

"All members are to return to their home country's unit immediately. That is all. Is that understood, Commander Minna?"

"... Understood."

"Your unauthorized actions were the cause, Sergeant Miyafuji."

"What? But I... I... But..."

"Don't worry, the Warlock will annihilate the Neuroi scourge. Britannia doesn't need your protections anymore." Yoshika began to fall to her knees when Lynne caught her. Maloney turned around and started to walk away when I came back to my own senses for only this brief while. With Trude's help, we got Yoshika tucked away into her bed and everyone else dispersed to pack their own things. I had both Ms. Sakamoto and Perrine's help packing up my belonging along with my sister's to my own pain. My mind was rejecting what had happened to her but part of me knows it wasn't the Neuroi's fault. It was what ever abomination they call the Warlock. Ms. Sakamoto explained to me that I will be going back with herself, Perrine, and Yoshika to Fuso to have one of their doctors make sure I was 100% fine after the Neuroi attack but I knew it was also for me to stick close to her incase everything goes FUBAR. Back to Yoshika's room I was rolled when Yoshika woke back up.

"Yoshika!" I heard Lynne call her name and she looked off to the side seeing us all. "Yoshika! Thank goodness..."

"Lynne... Everyone... I'm..."

"You collapsed on the runway."

"The accumulation of fatigue and shock caused you to pass out." Minna explained further when Yoshika sat up.

"Oh yeah! Something's not right about the Warlock!" She looked at us, "Hey! What if we start investigating!" She paused for a second as her eyes darted around the room a confused frown pasted on her face. "Wait... Everyone... What are those?"

"Under orders, we all have to leave here immediately."

"Then the Witches are really... Disbanded?"

"Yeah..." Lynne let it out as only a whisper when Yoshika started to cry.

"I'm... I'm sorry everyone."

"Yoshika..."

"I... I'm sorry... I... It's all my fault... It's all my fault!"

"No, that's not true!"

"Cheer up Yoshika!" Lucchini tried to cheer her up but she continued to sob.

"I'm sorry Blaze... I could have prevented Ember's death... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She kept on bubbling on when we started to leave slowly to give her room to pack all of her things. Since I was confined to a wheel chair, I couldn't do much but think about what I was told happened.

'_Big sis... What were you doing? Was there something you knew that the rest didn't?'_ I thought when Yoshika stepped out of her room.

"Lets go." Ms. Sakamoto said softly and Yoshika only nodded in agreement. We said our good bye's to each other and Shirley looked like she was having a harder time saying good bye to me for some reason. Trude, Minna, and Erica were loaded up onto a bus while Eila and Sanya went off to catch a train. Lynne was waiting for a car to pick her up and both Lucchini and Shirley took off to a nearby airport to get one of Shirley's planes to fly in. Soon Perrine, Ms. Sakamoto, Yoshika, and myself were set up on the deck of the Fuso carrier _Akagi_ and off the ship went towards Fuso.

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

'_Where... Where am I?'_ I though before trying to move only to stop as I felt stinging pain throughout my whole body.

"Please, don't move Ember."

'_That voice!"_ My eyes shot open and took in my surroundings. Different humanoid Neuroi were above me with some varying in color while others had different physical characteristics to them. A red translucent sphere of energy was emitted from their hands and I started to calm down slightly.

"That's it Ember, calm down your body. The healing process isn't complete so hold still for a little while longer." The voice that I knew for a long time belonged to a Neuroi that looked almost exactly like Mechta except the shapes of her familiar ears were different. They were more painted and longer like ones I had. "If you were wondering, the name I've chosen for myself is Xala. I'm the leader of this small group of Neuroi who's decided to not fight against humanity, but to try and aid them."

"Why are you helping us?" I asked kind of weakly.

"Because some of us aren't the monsters as you think we are. We actually lived among you humans for centuries without any disturbances between the two races. However, recently a new bread of Neuroi has been taking over, and it's the type you're fighting at this very moment. Those are mindless animals that destroy without a second thought and if it weren't for some of us going into hiding, I'm sure there wouldn't be any friendly Neuroi around."

"Wait... So you Neuroi are ones with intelligence?"

"To a point. We're more human like than you think Ember. We have emotions, feelings, and our own mind unlike the Neuroi you fight. We also have abilities that are very similar to the power you Witches have as well. For example, one of the Neuroi who goes by Eva has the ability to disrupt and make us invisible to your radar networks."

"I see..." Feeling was returning to my body as the six Neuroi around me worked hard at trying to heal my own body and Xala continued to speak telling me who the rest of the Neuroi are. Their names are Xera, Xana, Xaila, Xeris, Ene, Enelia, Eva, Eve, Misaka, Masaki, and Mikasa. Xera, Xana, Xaila, and Xeris had similar attributes to Xala being the regular red Neuroi color but each of them had slight different characteristics from how their "hair" was made on their head, what their "Striker Units" looked like and so on while Ene and Enelia were blue Neuroi. Eve and Eva were a purple color while Misaka, Masaki, and Mikasa were orange Neuroi. By the end of the explanation, they had completed what ever healing they needed for my body. I noted that my Striker unit was no longer attached to my legs when I questioned how I am no dead.

"You're not dead because both Xala and I came in to save you, Ember." Ene explained. "We pulled you out of the lasers path before it hit you. You're our only bridge between humans and Neuroi kind so we can't have you die on us now."

"You might also note that we couldn't 100% heal you back to your original self." Eve said. "Your left eye was unrepairable and had to be replaced with a fully Neurified one for you to keep your vision perfectly. Some parts of your skin are also Neurified over slightly since we couldn't repair the damage tissue as well."

A motion picture screen popped up again, this time it was an image of myself. My left eye was a rather unsettling sight since what the whites of my eye were now pitch black and my pupil was now a Neuroi red. It was only now that I noted that I was just in my white tank top I wore under my green army uniform and there was a rather large red splotch on it surrounding this tear in it. Looking past the tear in my clothing, I could see what looked like a scar of a light flexible Neuroi shell. It was the same thing with where the bullet tore through my thigh. Touching it, it was smooth yet also flexible as if was flesh itself, not the hard shell of regular Neuroi armor. Though it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, there was only a small patch that was as small as my palm where the shard pierced through me. Neurifying my right hand, I felt good and ready to fight when a wave of nausea came over me. My legs buckled under me and the two Neuroi named Misaka and Xaila caught me. I thanked them when Xera floated in and started to talk to Xala.

"Xala, the human machine has launched and is on rout towards the hive above Gallia." My ears perked up slightly hearing how that machine was going alone.

"What about the other 501st members? Are they escorting it?" Xera turned towards me and only shook her head.

"From what I could see, it looked like a person in a rather high position had disbanded the 501st."

"What?"

"The people who you call Yoshika, Mio, and Perrine are aboard the Fuso vessel with your sister, and are pointed towards Fuso. Everyone else went their separate ways as well. I'm sorry." I hung my head low slightly before looking towards Xala.

"What's your plan, Xala?" She looked towards me and if Neuroi could smirk, I think she would.

"Take out the thing your kind calls the Warlock. It's much more dangerous than they think it really is. They think they have it under a leash and collar, but they are wrong. Xera, Ene, Misaka, and Eva, you're coming with me. Ember," she looked at me, "you're to weak to come with us at the moment."

"I might not be able to walk consistently in my current state, but get me to my Striker Unit and then I can fight." I felt this almost forgotten burning sensation to fight and protect my friend and I still have to make it up to Shirley for making her suffer this whole time of my absence.

"... Fine. Ene, Misaka, can you carry her in flight? We're going straight for the human base. Xera, Eva, Xana, and Xaila, some of the Witches are planning to make their way into their occupied base. You're to assist them but try not to make contact if you can. Ene, Misaka, and myself will be lagging behind since we are going to be carrying Ember. The rest of you are going to be guarding the base." Everyone nodded and the four Neuroi took off instantly while Ene and Xala grasped my arms and started to fly as well. Down tunnels we went until we exited through the top into the open sky.

* * *

_**Xera's POV:**_

We were flying high up in the sky avoiding the enemy radar with the help of Eva's limited power. It might not be as strong as what a Witch with similar abilities, but it's enough to mask our presence. Looking off to the side, I could see the Warlock was busy off in the distance.

"Come on, we need to hurry to the base." Making our descent, we landed in one of the forests outside of the large castle and I was amazed at the shear size of it all. I knew the Witches lived here from some images Eva shared with the rest of us but I didn't know it was this big. Locating an entrance into the base, the four of us started to hover into the base when a red glint caught my attention. "Get down!" I commanded, grabbing Xaila's arm and pulling her towards the rest of the group just as a laser beam cut it's way through a portion of the castle and the land that we were just standing on. It exploded sending us to the ground regenerating our armor as quickly as we could.

"What the hell was that!?" Xana asked me and I didn't know.

"It's the Warlock," Eva explained. "It's attacking the human carrier as well."

"Come on, we need to get inside now!" I ordered and all of us flew into the base. "Our objective is to subdue and personal that might get in the way of the other Witches." We hugged the wall as we floated when I stopped. Holding up my hand, I halted everyone else before pointing upwards. Up we floated onto the ceiling and we collected around the corners when about six guards passed under us in a hurry. Letting them pass under us, we continued down the hallway trying to figure out where they would get into the base when I stopped by a window. Looking out of it, I saw the Witch trio from what I think is from... Karlsland, jump over the wall and make their way towards one of the entrances. One guard detail was coming our way again, towards where the three might be staying so hid behind some doors, walls, and hung on the ceiling. As they passed through, Eva floated out quickly through the door confronting the guards halting them. All of them froze instantly, a horrified look plastered on their face then Xana and Xaila took the guards in the back while I dropped down, driving the heads of two other guards in the center into the ground knocking them out. Eva knocked a gun out of another guards hand before floating up sharply, rotating hitting one of the guards in the head. Going up to the last one, my hand glowed slightly and some red sparks arced across my fingers and into the back of his head knocking him out as well. All of them were quickly subdued when I heard foot steps echoing through the hall way, pointing to the door we all quickly flew in and I shut the door. Xana dipped her head slightly and started to speak in our heads.

"_Three people outside of the door."_

"What the hell happened to these guys?" A female voice curiously asked in a child like matter. "We didn't beat these guys up."

"Can it, Erica, we might have some unwelcome people here with us. What do you think Commander?" I edged towards the door slightly to hear them a bit better and the others pushed up against the wall.

"I'm not sure..." I heard some foot steps walk around the bodies and when they all stopped. I looked back towards the others when a fist punched it's way through the solid oak door. It grasped around my neck before pulling me through the door with a crunch and it threw me against the wall opposite. I hit it hard enough to crack some of the stone but what I was now mostly worried about is how I'm currently staring into the brown eyes of one of the Karlsandian Witches and the amazing view of a pistol's rifled barrel and the red haired Witch behind it. Looking past them, I saw Eva had her arm raised, a ball of energy glowing in her palm.

"Hold you fire Eva!" I yelled at her when the brown eyed Witch fidgeted slightly. Both Xana and Xaila took the chance to quickly fly away after I told them to make it to the command room. Eva stood still for a second before lowering her arm again, dispelling the energy when the blond haired girl got up close to my face, staring at me with her curious blue eyes.

"Hey, Trudy, what are Neuroi doing here and did it just talk?"

"Don't be ridiculous Erica!" the girl who I now presume is Trudy shook her head when the red headed girl shook her head in disbelief.

"I heard it talk as well Trude..."

"But Minna!" Putting names to the people, I guessed it was safe to speak again.

"Yes, I can talk. But can you please put me down Trude?" Her eyes only hardened and I guess I didn't choose the right words.

"Why should I?"

"Because I've got two other units waiting to take down whatever control system that's controlling that machine you call the Warlock." I explained and she looked towards Minna who only nodded her head. She let got of my neck, and I stretched my neck back and forth with a slight crunch before motion Eva to follow. "Please, follow us." We began to fly and the three other Witches were following close behind as hallway after hallway we went.

"I can't believe I'm fighting with a Neuroi..." I heard Trude grumble lightly and Erica only laughed when we came onto a two man patrol. Eva and I expertly grabbed one of them and threw them hard against the wall incapacitating them without any disturbance in our forward momentum. Reaching what I think would be the main control base, I let the three Witches take the lead and enter the room. No guards were in the room thankfully and everyone gave us surprised gasps. Xana and Xaila then teleported into the room sitting on one of the large table like consoles, kicking her legs back and forth gaining an even more frightened gasp. One of the high ranking officials tried to stop the Witches by getting in the way of Trude. She responded "kindly" by activating her magical power and began to flick him. Each flick looked like it had an equal amount of force to an unassisted punch and it was rather comical to see the grown man getting flicked around by a teenager. Both Xana and Xaila floated to our sides and I nodded towards them. Xaila teleported us out of the base without another word since our mission was completed.

"Now that that's done, we will wait for Xala's arrival." Xana and Xaila sat down across from each other and started to draw in the dirt small laser beams while I stood near the edge of the foliage and stared at the burning ship in the distance. I wanted to go help who ever was aboard but orders said for no unnecessary contact with anyone for now.

'_Good luck, Strike Witches.'_

* * *

_**Minna's POV:**_

With Trude finishing up flicking the poor bastard to submission, I looked around finding that our Neuroi "friends" were nowhere to be found. Not worrying much, I walked up to the podium finding some journals.

"What are you planning to do with us?" Maloney asked heavily.

"Well, what are you going to do, Minna?" Trude asked me as I looked between the journals.

"You tried to deceive the Witches. It looks like you've been quite busy, _sir._ In order to become stronger than a Witch, you used Neuroi technology. And to hide that fact, you tried to force the Witches to disband." I opened a book and skimmed through it before putting it down. "It was a good plan. But Miyafuji actions, and Ember's discoveries, which exceeded military understanding, caused you to slip up."

"If only..." Trude mumbled, "If only we had trusted Miyafuji sooner."

"H-Hey! Bad news! The _Akagi_ is going to sink!" Erica pointed out the window. Using my magical power, I began to scan the area. "The Warlock is fighting with a Witch! Who is it?"

"It's Miyafuji!" I confirmed.

"Miyafuji!?"

"Impossible! I thought your units were all sealed away in the hangers!" I concentrated harder but what I found surprised me.

"The waveform of this unit is... Mio's Striker!"

"No way! Not bad Miyafuji!" Trude picked up some electrical cable from the ground and looked at it.

"To deceive your enemies, first deceive your friends. Hah! As expected of Major Sakamoto!"

"Miyafuji has her hands full just buying us time. Lets go!" I started towards the hanger and Erica joined me while Trude finished up tying up Maloney. She caught up quickly and we now were running for the hanger's entrance.

"So, basically... Since Miyafuji tried to make contact with the Neuroi, those guys showed their true intentions. Understand Minna?"

"Hm? Uh, yeah!"

"Got it Erica?"

"Ugh... This isn't the Trude I know..." Getting closer I didn't notice how both Eila and Sanya are standing in front of the hanger looking up at the large beams covering the hanger entrance.

"Eila! Sanya!"

"Huh? Uh!" The two looked at us.

"Why did you two come back?" Trude asked.

"Well, uh, you see... T-The train! See, we both fell asleep, and it came back to the starting station. Uh, so we figured we'd just see what was going on here... Right, Sanya?"

"Yoshika is fighting now... We came to help Yoshika."

"Ahhh! Sanya, why!?"

"You're such a lier." I saw Erica smirk at the two of them.

"The same goes for us."

"Wha- N-No, I'm not!" Trude denied and I giggled lightly.

"Anyway, lets get started." Standing back, Trude activated her magic and started to grunt as she started to lift the giant metal beam. Slowly it went up and threw it away down the runway with a yell. Out with a second one gave us plenty of room to get in and out of the hanger for our Striker units.

'_Just hang in there Miyafuji, we're on our way.'_

* * *

_**Shirley's POV:**_

I've been circling around in my plane for a while now and at this moment I wished I had at least my BAR to fight the Warlock! And with Mio, Perrine, and Blaze hanging off the edge of the _Akagi_, there wasn't much I could do.

"Come on, come on! A little further away... There!" With Miyafuji distracting the Warlock, I nosed down into a dive.

"Lucchini!"

"Yay! Ta-da!" Glancing in a mirror I installed I saw the Warlock stop and charge up a laser shot.

"Hold on!" My hands and legs moved as one as if they were conducting a symphony. Displacement rolls after displacement rolls, I avoided the laser beams until they all stopped. Steadying it, I put it into a steep dive getting inline with the sinking carrier when the Warlock passed us, shooting up the deck. The three holding on started to fall. Hitting the deck, I snapped the plane onto a knife edge pass while shoving one of the rudder peddles dipping the tail down. Passing under them, Lucchini caught the trio. Leveling out the plane, I pushed the throttle into it's WEP mode giving more power to pull our extra weight into the air. "Nice catch!"

"Welcome back you three!" Turning around, I pulled the plane and landed on the runway to. Taxiing, I saw Minna, Trude, Erica, Sanya, and Eila standing with their Striker units equipped and weapons in hand.

"Lynne!" Lucchini called out and I looked off to the side seeing Lynne had also returned as well.

"Oh, there she is!" Erica was waving her hands and I cut the engines.

"You're late Lynette Bishop!" Pulling of my aviation helmet, I shook my head side to side freeing up my hair.

"Welcome back. Though it pains me to say you're the last one to arrive..." Minna said. I sighed heavily since our last member of the 501st wouldn't come back.

"Who knows, she just might come back from the dead to fly up with you all again."

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

"Who knows, she just might come back from the dead to fly up with you all again." I said with a smirk. All head instantly turned towards my voice and some people's jaws dropped then they spotted me. Perrine passed out in Mio's arms as Minna placed a hand over her mouth. Blaze struggled to get out of the plane while Shirley jumped out quickly and ran towards me

"Ember!" She lunged at me and I caught her before she brought her face up to mine, a big kiss was given quickly. I would have fallen over if it wasn't for Xala and Misaka bracing me slightly. Everyone else first was shocked by the scene that was unfolding in front of them but soon scrambled around me when I heard my sister gasp.

"Sis... Your eye..." People looked at my face with some frowning and other gasped. I blinked once and nodded my head.

"I know... It was necessary..."

"Now that makes everyone accounted for!" Erica cheered when Xera came out with my Firebird Striker and Eva with my weapon. Jumping in, I let the Striker roar to life before I Neurified my body and Striker. "All units, engage the Warlock!" Minna commanded. Everyone took off immediately while I flew off to the side slightly from the main group with my own flight of Neuroi forces. Ene and Xala were flanking my left and right while the rest formed up into the diamond formation. Off in the distance, I could the that the _Akagi's_ bow had nearly submerged while the fire fight between Yoshika and the Warlock continued. The all to distinguishable pop of the Boys rifle echoed through the open air and the unmistakable yellow H-VAP-T **(High-Velocity Armor Piercing Tracer)** shell arced across the sky and into the Warlocks leg. It ripped through the armor plating destroying both legs killing it's propulsion system. It fell like a rock into the _Akagi_ before it finally sunk down into the water.

"We did it..." I gasped out. "The Warlock is down..."

"Yoshika!" Lynne sped off towards Yoshika and we all followed quickly after her.

"Hey, thanks for waiting Miyafuji," Shirley added.

"Everyone!" Mio, with the support of Perrine and Minna came towards Yoshika as well.

"You held up pretty well, Miyafuji." Mio commented.

"Sakamoto!" I kept some distance from the group as I hovered around the friendly Neuroi when Yoshika looked towards my direction and stated to fly towards the small group. The shell on my face started to pull and fold away and I gave her a smile. "Oh, your eye! Let me heal it." She reached her hand up to try and heal it, but I intercepted it quickly.

"I'm sorry Yoshika, but it's impossible." She frowned slightly and I petted her hair when Xala flew up to her.

"So you're the other Witch Mechta met?" She questioned Yoshika before reaching her hand out towards her. Yoshika stared at it in wonder at first when she too reached her hand out, placing it against Xala's.

"It's rather soft and... Warm..."

"Ah, I guess you won't be needing these either!" Looking towards Trude, she had Yoshika's actual Striker unit.

"Well... That might not be true..." Doubt was dripping from Eila's mouth as she held one of her tarot cards.

"Huh?"

"Look at that!" I felt another Neuroi presence and that spiked my intention. The Neuroi pieces started to close up again around my face when a guesser of water erupted from the ocean surface. Slowly rising out of the water to our horror was a Neurified _Akagi_, the Warlock at it's stern.

"The Warlock and the _Akagi_..." Mio couldn't finish her sentence as the large aircraft carrier rose out of the water and continued to climb up into the sky. Mio and Yoshika quickly switched Strikers and just in time as well since the Neurified _Akagi_ started to shoot a volume of lasers out our little group. We all dispersed quickly in all directions before following it up into the clouds.

"W-What's this!? The Warlock and the _Akagi_ have fused!" I heard Mio gasp out.

"This has gone beyond our control now."

"But, we've got to do this. That thing is no longer Warlock nor Neuroi, it's something completely different! If we Witches don't stop it, then no one will be able to!" I cracked my knuckles and grinned menacingly at it.

"I didn't get a shot at you while you were a small Warlock, but now payback is going to be so much sweeter!"

"In coming!" Sanya warned us just as a barrage of lasers shot out of all the anti-air gun emplacements. Dodging, ducking, and weaving my way through, I gripped the handle on my gun, ready for the order.

"Strike Witches, all units prepare to attack!" Pulling the charging handle back, I got a satisfying thunk as a round was chambered. "The target are the _Akagi_ and the Warlock!"

"That's music to my ears Commander!"

"Roger!" Laser after laser were being shot out and I swear, this Neuroi had a real hard-on for lasers.

"The core is in the _Akagi's_ engine chamber."

"It doesn't look like we can destroy it from the outside either. We've got to reach it from the inside."

"Times like these where a 15cm shell from the Bismarck would come in handy right Trudy?" Erica asked.

"Would be helpful but we don't! So focus Hartmann!"

"Riiiiggghhhttt."

"I'll go, since I know the interior!" Mio announced when Yoshika interjected.

"I will go in your place Sakamoto!"

"I will go, too!" Lynne quickly joined in.

"I-I know a little about the inside, as well!" Perrine flew up and I cracked a slight smirk.

"Thank you!"

"I-It's not like I'm doing this for you, or anything!"

"Perrine, it'll be encouraging if you're with them!" Mio added.

"O-Oh? Y-Yes ma'am!"

"I'm going with them as well!" I announced and flew up with the trio of girls. "I can provide additional firepower if the traditional tech doesn't work."

"Then, all other members will provide cover for the four of them. Open up a path for them!" The _Akagi_ breached through the cloud cover and nosed over to fly in a straight line. "All units, engage!"

"Xala, your group can join the others and provide support for them all."

"Are you sure about that Ember?"

"Four people are all ready flying down into the Neuroi. Anymore will slow us down and choke up the rooms quickly."

"Of course." She floated upwards with the other Neuroi and followed Trude and Erica into the blaze of laser beams. Staying in a hover, I watched as each pair of Witches do their work. Eila and Sanya working together with Eila's prediction ability and Sanya's Fleigerhammer, Trude, Erica, Blaze, and the Neuroi forcers were also tearing up the AA emplacements and the Neuroi hull itself when both Shirley and Lucchini started to dive down. Shirley easily broke the sound barrier before throwing a supersonic Lucchini at the Neuroi.

"Go, Lucchini!"

"WAAACHHHOOO!" Multiple layers of shield appeared in front of her hands as she collided with the Neuroi, shearing a large chunk off of it "WHACHYA!"

"Lucchini!"

"Do it, Yoshika!"

"Come on! Now's our chance to get in!" I waved my hand forward and all four of us took off. The air battle still was tense as we dove into the ship's hull and we only stopped because of a bulkhead.

"The bulkhead..."

"Lynne! Anti-Door duty!"

"Right!" She quickly raised up the Boys rifle and squeezed a round off blowing in the door. First flew in Lynne and Yoshika with Perrine and myself following behind when a laser beam shot out, clipping both Lynne;s and Yoshika's weapons. Perrine and I let off a salvo into the port the laser came out of and I didn't like this.

"Wha- You two lost your weapons!?"

"In coming!" Raising a shield in the front of my gun, I let loose my .50 caliber of freedom at another laser port shredding it apart. Lynne and Yoshika soldiered on through the hall way using their shields to block the laser beams and both Perrine and I finished them off as we passed by when we came to the final bulkhead to the engine room. Perrine started to shoot but her 7.5mm bullets just bounced off. I tried a burst myself but even my own armor piercing bullets weren't doing much damage to it all. I only scowled more when I heard the dry click of the empty magazine.

"Our guns aren't enough for this job..."

"Oh no, but we've come so far!" Lynne whined when Perrine flew forward, throwing her gun down. "Perrine?"

"I was planing on saving this for last." Her body started to glow an electric blue before snapping her fingers and pointed it at the door. "Tonnerre!" A lightning blast dented the bulkhead inwards before it fell off it's hinge exposing the engine room. In the center was a bright red glowing Neuroi core. Yoshika flew forward towards the core unexpectantly and we flew after her.

"Miyafuji, what do you think you're doing?"

"Lynne, Perrine," she looked between the two of them, "please, support me!" The two of them nodded and grasped one of her arms as Yoshika switched how the propellors rotated and started them up again. "Thank you..." Was all I heard when she released her legs from the Striker unit. They flew straight without deviations towards the core shattering it completely. With the core destroyed, the ship was starting to fall apart and at the same time, my strength to use my Neurified form was fading as well. Pooling what ever energy I had left into my right hand, I shot a powerful beam through the ceiling creating a large enough hole for the four of us to escape from. The Neuroi armor completely disappeared from my body leaving me in a near exhausted state as we flew through it and quickly away from the exploding _Akagi _we went. White flashes were popping up all over the haul of the ship before it exploded into one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. White flakes were snowing down on all of us harmlessly.

"It's Yoshika!" I heard Lucchini point out when a foreign force rushing into my back causing me to tumble in the air when I felt arms wrap around me and my sister's voice squealed.

"Ember's back as well! You four did it! You did it sissy!" I reached behind, petting her head and Yoshika only had this dazed look on her face.

"Yoshika... You did it, you did it, Yoshika!" Lynne cheered as Perrine let go, huffing slightly. "You destroyed it, Yoshika!" I soon saw her glance back with a smirk when something of a far greater magnitude caught my attention. The hive above Gallia started to disappear.

"That's..."

"The Neuroi hive..."

"It's disappearing!" Shirley fist pumped.

"We won!"

"Gallia... My homeland is free..." I smiled to myself as well as I leaned back in the air, my eyes closed in though.

'_I did it Josephine, I kept our promise. Gallia is now liberated. You can return to your home country at last.'_

"Amazing... You're amazing Yoshika!"

"Yeah..."

"The war for Gallia is over... A great victory for us but there's still more hives to be destroyed on the Karlsland front, Orussia, and down in Africa. There is still a long way to go, but this is a nice change.

"Strike Witches! All units, return to base!" We all began to fly back towards our base and I was on the leading edge with my sister when Xala approached me.

"I know you must be celebrating right now Ember, but there's something important we need to do with you." I frowned slightly and my sister gripped my arm a bit tighter.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Your Neurification powers Ember. The other Neuroi and myself are going to be training your body to not only use it longer and more efficiently, but we're also going to train your mind. It won't be something you have to think hard on to bring forth, but just a simple subconscious or single thought." I looked at my sister's pleading eyes for me not to go before I looked towards Shirley. I wanted to be by her side after what had happened but... There wouldn't be another better time than this to take Xala's offer. I needed this training and if it means we can end this war much sooner, then I will take any advantage I can get.

"Can I at least say good bye to people?"

"When you all land, you will say your good bye's but after that we must leave immediately." I nodded slightly and tightened my grip on my sisters hand as we landed. Everyone was still hyped about the destructions on the Neuroi hive but at the same time down since this was also the time where the 501st Join Fighter Wing, Strike Witches, is now officially disbanded. We all were saying our good bye when I approached Shirley. She was loading up her Striker into her plane along with their weapons and Lucchini's Striker. She just finished tightening down a strap when I hugged her from behind. She turned around me and returned the embrace with a kiss. Everyone else was on the opposite side of the plane so they couldn't see us and oh, how I will miss her kiss for the long months of training ahead of me. I pulled away giving her a sad reassuring look when I told her where I was going. Her expression turned sour.

"Are you really going?"

"I'm sorry that I have to leave like this Charlotte. You know I would love to be with you a while longer but... This is going to be for the best for not only us, but for the world as a whole."

"I'll miss you Ember." She gave me a teary hug before backing up. Xala appeared behind me with Xaila at her side. Giving a wave to my sister and Shirley, I was quickly teleported back a distance away from my old base and back to the Neuroi hide out we flew. To my surprise, my clothes were present and a room was built for my stay complete with a shower, latrine, and bedding.

"We retrieved your belongings from the Fuso vessel _Akagi _before it went under. Us Neuroi also don't need any of these items, but with you staying here we made some preparations for you." I nodded my head even finding a Launcher Unit also inside. How they copied it, or took it, was beyond me, but it gave me a place to hook my Striker unit to and stow my gun away. In the corner, in a rather neat pile, was also all of my ammunition for my gun8 and all the tools and parts to maintain everything I have here.

"Damn, you guys got everything down to the nuts and bolts I need to work and maintain everything..." I commented when a wave of tiredness came over me.

"Please, Ember, you need to rest. All of the Neuroi went into a state in which you can call our "sleeping" mode to regenerate energy. You need to do the same." Without any complaints I just flopped into my bed, surprised by the rather soft mattress and warm linens. That combinations instantly put me to sleep on the spot and I had sweet dreams of everyone in the 501st.

* * *

_**Blaze's POV:**_

September, 1944. The complete annihilation of the Neuroi in the Gallia region was confirmed. Though with this, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, Strike Witches, was officially disbanded. It was also the day when 1st Lieutenant Ember Vermillion was pronounced Missing In Action by the Army Air Force. Though due to her deeds, and some mumbo jumbo in the Top Brass , she was awarded a promotion putting her at the rank of Major. To be honest, I think this might be a publicity stunt if anything but they did it anyway. I, for my own actions with the 501st in bringing down the Gallian Neuroi hive have earned a promotion as well and a Silver Star decoration by the Army Air Force putting me as a Captain. Though many believe my sister to be dead, only the members of the 501st know the truth and any crew of the _Akagi_ saw she was alive. Though only Shirley and myself know the true reasons for why she's missing. Everyone went their separate ways with Shirley and Lucchini went somewhere in the South-East area. Minna, Erica, and Trude went to some squadron back near Nue Karlsland and Perrine is helping rebuild Gallia with the aid of Lynne. Both Sanya and Eila said they were going back to help near Orrusia and Somus. All of my equipment has been packed up and sent back to the states and I'm currently back in London waiting for a plane ride with Ms. Sakamoto and Yoshika. Since the _Akagi_ has sunk, there's no easy way back to Fuso since crossing over Europe is a no go, through the states is the easiest way back. I heard there were plans for the doctor to meet the group in one of California's base and both Ms. Sakamoto and Yoshika should be flying back with him. My mom came to visit frequently since I was back at base asking if I was all right and each time I reassured her I was just fine. She asked me if Ember was really gone and I told her what she was doing at this moment. She was rather glad though still a bit teary eyed each time she left. It's been about four days since the three of us, Ms. Sakamoto, Yoshika, and myself had arrived to base and not to my surprise, Ms. Sakamoto was training the new recruits on this base hard. I think... She might have been doing this to not only work them over, but to also stunt any boredom she might have waiting for our late plane. I was just sitting on the sideline with Seris and Anne watching her torture the recruits.

"Jeez, and I thought we run the nuggets hard..." Seris mumbled as Sakamoto barked orders at them, ordering them to do another lap.

"I kind of feel bad for them..." Anne mumbled next.

"And she's someone Ember had to work with?"

"Well, Ms. Sakamoto pushes us really hard." We turned around and Yoshika sat down next to us. "She might push everyone hard to be their very best, but it helps a lot." It was their eighth lap around the base and the recruits all just collapsed on the runway, panting and wheezing for air. Ms. Sakamoto took a look at them before shaking her head lightly and walked towards Anne and Seris.

"Work on their endurance harder you two. Their's are all right, but there's much room for improvement."

"Right... Do you always run your recruits this hard?" Anne questioned.

"If you don't push them to their limits, they will stop growing. Each season will gradually easier each time but then step it up every other time as well to keep their growth up. Miyafuji here is a perfect example of how hard training can mold an excellent Witch!" She gave off her iconic hearty laugh when a DC-4 transport plane flew overhead, the bright blue and white star of the Army Air Force star on it's tail. She barked at the recruits to get up and off the runway to make room for the plane as I sat up and got my bag for the plane. Yoshika ran back into the hanger and got her replacement belongings as did Ms. Sakamoto. The plane pulled around and I was surprised when another car drove up with my mother.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" I hugged her when I noticed that she had a single wheeled bag.

"Why, I'm going back home with you, little Blazette." I puffed my cheeks again.

"I told you not to call me that..."

"Oh, that's your full name?" Yoshika asked quite interested. "I think it's quite beautiful!" My cheeks reddened slightly as I pouted some more. Getting into the plane, both Anne, Seris, and two other Witches escorted us for a short while when they reached their maximum range. Giving a wave, the four Witches pealed off leaving us high in the sky. The seats were comfy, it was relatively quiet, and meals were served around noon when I fell asleep on my mothers shoulder. I was only woken up when we landed at an air port.

"So this is Liberion?" I heard Yoshika ask as I rubbed my eyes. Looking out the window to see an airport I haven't seen for a long time.

"This is Liberion, but not our final destination." I said. "From what I can guess... We're in New York City on the East Coast of Liberion."

"The captain said we're here to refuel the plane so we have some time to explore." Ms. Sakamoto announced and Yoshika's eyes brightened up instantly.

"Can we?" She looked at her with puppy eyes.

"Yes, but be back by 3 o'clock sharp Miyafuji."

"Yay! Come on Blaze!" She grabbed my hand and off into the city we went and had some fun. With the money I got from my mom, we went around exploring. Yoshika had her first taste with a cheese burger and quite enjoyed it. She then went on to wash it down with a Coca Cola and too enjoyed it. Though in the little time we had, we met some people who asked if we were Witches and thanked us for our services. I even ran into another legendary Witch while walking around; Jane Thatch. Yoshika didn't know who she was, but I was ecstatic to meet the person who teaches our Navy Witches and fought on the Liberion Carrier fleets. Though she is long past her prime, she was still nice to be around. And with the time getting closer, Yoshika and I decided to go back to the plane early. Soon we were off again and Yoshika's eyes were glued outside the window, gazing down at the Liberion terrain bellow us. With us landing back in California, we all disembarked and I met the Fuso doctor who did a quick check over to find, not to my surprise, that I was just fine. Saying good bye to Yoshika, I waved the Fuso duo off as they took off towards Fuso. Ever sense then, things have been slow for me. I was put into the reserves after finishing my tour of duty in Britannia and I didn't mind much since I am waiting for my sister's return. Letters from Lynne and Yoshika came in here and there along with everyone else, but some people seem to have fallen off the map. I haven't gotten a letter from Shirley nor Lucchini in a while and the last one I did get said they were going to be near the African area. The Karlslandian trio also had sent some letters here and there but not as consistently as Yoshika did. For compensation, the military also let us rent out this beach front property for the time being and it was nice. Each night, I sat out on the deck and stare up into the night sky, remembering what it was like to fly around with Sanya and the time when I flew with my sister to fight the night time Neuroi. Activating my powers, I close my eye picking up some radio signals here and there I always tried to listen to when I was bored in the night time sky. I met some old friends while back in the states though it is still quite lonely without the others and my sister.

'_I wonder how you're doing Ember...' _I thought as I lay on the patio, gazing up into the stary night sky. _'That, and what are you doing?'_ I mulled around in my thoughts for a while, watching as the stars seem to slide across the sky. _'Some of my old class mates say you're a monster while others say you're a great hero... What will you do if the whole world turns against you... What will I do to protect you if that happens?'_ My thoughts went on when I sat up, and went back inside to fell asleep in my own bed. I dreamed about my experiences with the 501st and remembering all the fun we had with them. I am going to miss them and I hope we can all meet up again under different circumstances.

* * *

**And I think this will be the end of the first installment. So, what do you people think? And don't worry, I will continue this series... Just thinking of putting it into a separate story or continuing it in this one... I really want to hit 100,000 words for this one story sssooooo... Meh... ****Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... **


	14. Chapter 14

**So, yeah, I'm deciding to continue the next arc in the current story and will only make a new story for Season 2 and for the Movie... If I make it that far... Heehee, I think I might be able to make it that far. Anyway, ONTO THE STORY! And I might go back to add some titles to these chapters but... I think I'm just to lazy to do so... I'll try to do so but no promises there... ENOUGH TALK! STORY!**

* * *

_**Ashes Burn Ablaze Once More**_

* * *

_**Blaze's POV:**_

Three and a half months have passed since my sister had "disappeared" from the world; three and a half months since the 501st had disbanded and the liberation of Gallia. In this time, I also had my birthday in December and this was yet another year where she had missed it... We also celebrated her own birthday on February like we always did when she was out of country. Though it wasn't the same this year... In these three and a half months though, everyone was slowly getting less in touch with each other. Shirley and Lucchini have fallen off the map and some people were sending letters less and less. Only Yoshika was consistent with her letters. Though they might be far in between due to the distance we live from each other. Myself on the other hand, have been relaxing slightly since I was back in the states. Though I might be in the reserve for now, it doesn't mean I should flunk out on my stamina. Each day, I've been working my body to keep my stamina up and I've been working in the nearby USAAF base in California. Working around the base, helping some recruits that are being shipped here sorted out and trained slightly before sent over seas. Though with them, I've noticed there was some air of respect for me and admiration. I guess it comes with me being a veteran Witch and one at such a tender age as well. Though the big one must be about how I was part of the JFW that liberated Gallia. It was quite the buzz in town for quite some time and only now has it really died down. I couldn't walk around the city for long since people were coming up to me for an autograph or to congratulate me. But... It wasn't all gifts and words of admiration that were sent my way either... Due to the news of my sister's powers, Neurification, some people had resented her and everyone blood related. Death threats came in the mail, people disrespecting me in public, to even eggs or rocks being thrown at me. The worst thing that had happened to us so far is an explosive in the mailbox. Military Police were sent to my residence to quell what ever acts of violence and destruction towards us and it died down slightly. It hasn't escalated so far nor was I worried either. I am a Witch and was part of one of the worlds most famous Joint Fighter Wings in history. I sometimes think how things might got if the other members were here and I get a giggle at some of their reactions.

'_I bet Trude would completely flip,'_ I thought and I imagined a person just tried to throw a rock or egg at me to only have my shield block it. Trude on the other hand would have to be held back by basically everyone from destroying the kid.

Today was a big day since there's a General is coming through to inspect our base. I stood in my room adjusting my issued cap and made sure my rank insignia was snug and my uniform wasn't crooked. Smiling at myself, I stood at attention and saluted with a blank face before smirking. _'Well, I'm ready for anything.'_ Skipping down the stairs, I said my good bye to my mother and started to walk towards the base. Thank goodness it was close by or it would be a pain in the ass to get there.

"Ah, good morning Captain!" The guard at the entrance saluted me and I waved as I passed by.

"Good morning to you too, private." Off into the base I went and everything seemed to be in the most organized fashion I have ever seen it in before. Everything was shiny after a quick polishing, people were in uniform while others were either working or standing perfectly still guarding what ever building or keeping an eye out for trouble. Saying good morning to the usual people who usually see me through the base, I finally reached the area where the Witches operate in. I could see four of the new recruits talking with each other when I saw the last group of mechanics I needed to see on this time of day. Alec Butz, one of the engineers or the USAAF and his lackeys. I'm not sure how he's still in the military after he's been demoted twice. He absolutely hates my sister and thus me at the same time me. He somehow was also our mechanic for our Striker units and he had it out for me since I came onto base. Everyone was quite excited since my "celebrity" like status but in my time here, I've had four Striker failures, two of which nearly ended up killing me if it wasn't for some quick thinking on my part. One time was when I had a right engine blowout on take off and I ended up ejecting myself out of the secondary unit, skidding some 100 meters on a shield away from my burning Striker. Another time was again, engine failure due to a faulty fuel pump starving my engine. Thankfully I was able to recover and make it back to base on a single engine. Another time the Striker wouldn't work and was sent back while he latest incident was when both engines failed and I ended up getting my feet wet and a sprained wrist. A Witch on base had healing magic and fixed it right up but... It felt weird... It wasn't like Yoshika's healing ability but it got me back into the air again. Each incident had an investigation done but not enough evidence was found to convict him and he would _never_ harm a Witch due to mechanical failure. That the four incidents were some sort of bad luck fluke. If he stays around any longer, I feel like my FUBAR BUNDY***** situation will just get even worse.

"Well, _Ms. Vermillion,_ I hope everything will go well in todays inspection." He gave me a mischievous grin as he passed me. "I hope nothing will go horribly wrong." I only ignored them and went off to check if everything is in position. Strikers polished and their Launcher Units were set when word spread the inspector arrived and people were scrambling for last minute items. Our commander had gathered us and got all the recruits in a line. The inspector came through and went through everything with a fine tooth comb before writing something down and moving on. I guess it went on like that for the next hour when everyone was told the base passed. Relaxing since we passed, I rested on a crate when someone passed the word along that one of the recruits wanted to meet me. Curious, I went along with where she told me to find her in some shadowy area between hangers and I was already regretting coming when I saw Alec sitting on a crate with a grin. I turned around to leave only to find my exit closed off by his lackeys.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" I spat out and he shook his head.

"Such a dirty mouth on a little 15 year old kid." He jumped down from the box and I turned around to leave and I would force my way past them but they had their service pistols drawn. I backed up slightly when I felt another pistol barrel bump against my head. "Scream or try and gain any attention and we will shoot you. This is far enough from the others people won't notice much either." He cackled lightly. "Through this time, I can't help but notice your body. Rather small up top but nice curves." I felt my blood grow cold as I felt a hand trace up my thighs. "We can do what ever we want with you back here, and no one will know.~" I felt the hand go slowly up my thigh and up into my shirt and trace its way up my belly. I knew I could easily get away from each of them and I out ranked them all, like hell that would matter though, but my body was absolutely petrified. I couldn't do anything; I was just frozen in time. I only broke out of my trance when I heard the air raid siren go off. Everyone seemed quite confused when I heard chatter over the intercom. Since my stay with the 501st, I've always had my intercom in my ear but what I heard confused me.

"_Single small target coming from vector Two, Eight, Zero. Altitude, 10,000 feet up. Scramble all Witches to intercept!"_

"_What's the estimated time of arrival!?"_

"_It's speed... My god, it's over Mach 1.5!"_

"_What!? That's over 1,000 Miles Per Hour!"_

"_Jesus, it's just three seconds from base!"_ My eyes widen at how close it was when all eyes looked up. A black streak with a white contrail behind it flew high in the sky when it stopped. A black streak fell from the sky and landed with some force into the little compartment in between the buildings, sending up dust into the air. Thank god, I felt Alec remove his hand but everyone was voicing their own concern what was going on. With the dust settling, the object that fell from the sky was a humanoid Neuroi. Though it was different from the ones I've seen before. The _"hair"_ it had was long over I guess what would have been the left eye and a free-flowing pony tail that hung down to her waist in the back. It's _"familiar features"_ resembled that of a bird of some sort and the _"Striker Unit"_ looked even more familiar with it's swept back wings. The most notable thing about the Neuroi in front of us was that it also had a red thin scarf wrapped around it's neck.

"W-What the hell is that thing!?" Alec screamed as he drew his own gun training it on the Neuroi, but something down inside me knew who it was.

Placing a hand on my hip and the other one hanging down at me side, I smirked saying, "Sup, sis."

* * *

_**Ember's POV:**_

I stared in silence as I saw the four responsible for nearly raping my little sister. I am grateful that Xala quickly passed the information along since I wasn't returning without any hurry. Though... Now I see the circumstances are different.

"What the hell are you talking about!? Your sister is dead! Dead I tell you!"

"Dead you say?" I asked, jumping out of my Striker Unit, still in my Neurified form.

"Oh my god, it talked! Are Neuroi even supposed to talk!?" One of the guys yelled, his hands were trembling as he pointed his gun at me.

"Well... I'm the special case." I took a step towards them and one of them lost their nerve and started to shoot. The three others decided to join in the chorus of gun fire but my well achieved Neuroi armor just shrugged the bullets off. It stung slightly since they were firing .45 ACP cartridges but they each only had seven bullets until they ran dry. My sister covered her ears until the shooting stopped. She then uncovered her ears and casually walked forward past them all and patted my shoulder as she passed by, a smirk on her face.

"Don't beat them up to much Ember." She went on to pick up my Striker Unit and I grinned as I looked at the four again. They stepped back again and I lunged forward driving my knee into the gut of one of them and my joined hands down on top of his head. The second closest one threw a wild punch at me and I stood still as he punched me square in the chest.

'_They couldn't penetrate my armor with .45 caliber bullets, so what's a fist going to do to me?'_ I thought as I he drew his hand back in pain. Swinging both my arms around, I clapped him sharply in both ears knocking him down when the third one came at me. He was larger than the other two and rather muscular, but nothing I couldn't handle. He threw out one arm in a punch, which I grabbed and he threw out a second one which I too grabbed. Seeing no other options he did one last desperate attempt to hurt me by head butting me. Though through all his effort, he only accomplished knocking himself out. The last one, whom I presume is called Alec, tried to hit me with a metal pole and succeeded slightly. He hit me in the head and I felt that one and it even cracked some of the black armor off. He grinned seeing I wasn't as invincible as he though and struck at me again. This time, I grabbed the iron bar and started to bend it as I stood back up. Driving my left fist into his head, I knocked him out and looked behind me. I saw my sister leaning against a wall with my Striker Unit when some heavily armed guards and Witches came running over. The Witches quickly grabbed my sister and pulled her behind the guards who had their Thompson Submachine guns trained on me and she only cried out in protest.

"W-Wait! Hold your fire!" I noted the sun wasn't in a position to completely flush out the alley in light so I was covered in a shadow. Stepping forward, I heard the click the safeties come off and some frightened gasps as my Neuroi shell came into view. But more confused looks came across as the Neuroi shell started to fade away to flesh and cotton. Getting into the light completely, I had deactivated my Neuroi armor earning many gasps from everyone.

"As a Major of the United States Army Air Force, I command you to stand down!" I commanded and the guards fumbled to lower their guns as my sister pushed past them, lunging into a large glomp.

"Ember! I missed you so much!" She started to squeeze harder and harder to a point where I had to use my own magic strength to stop her from breaking anything. "Wah! I'm sorry!" She let go quickly and I patted her head as everyone else started to give me weird looks.

"It's the Fire Maiden..." Whispers started to bounce around the small crowd about who I was and the awkward silence continued when they broke out cheering. It took me quit bye surprise as the MP's went to work arresting the four mechanics while the Witches swarmed me and picked me up and started to carry me around. I saw my sister grab my Striker just in time since they started to walk away with me.

'_Great, first I was 'abducted' by the Neuroi and now these humans have me heehee.'_ I chuckled slightly in my mind when some a general, and what looked like the base Commander, came around the corner. I was let down from being carried by the crowd of Witches and I stood there as everyone saluted.

"What's with all the fuss around here?" The general asked. "And who's that Witch in the center there?" Being sixteen years old, I was much older than some of the Witches here and I was rather tall for my age as well. "I've never seen you before." I started to step forward the general.

"Major Ember Vermillion, reporting, sir!" I stood at attention and saluted.

"T-That can't be true! You must be an impostor of some sort!" I went to a slightly more at ease position and held my arm up.

"If you want proof," my arm Neurified making him jump slightly, "here's your proof that I am Ember; the Neuroi Witch I've heard people call me. It was me that your radar detected when I was coming in and I apologize for sending the base into a panic. I had a rather urgent matter to attend to..." I glanced back at my sister and then past her as the MP's came up with the four mechanics. Everything was explained how Blaze was nearly... _Abused_ by them and everything was cleared up. Some telephone calls were being done to clear my status of being M.I.A and I was rather surprised at how much money was being saved up for me. Though I guess it did start to build up in my absence heehee. Having nothing more to do on base, I heard from my sister about her _accidents_ with her Striker. Two were salvageable while two others were destroyed and I grimaced slightly. Those things are expensive damn it! Wasting no time, I stood over the table with my Sister's new P-61 and started to open it up.

"Now let's see what inside-" I stop mid sentence and stood still as I stared.

"Sis?" I ignored her and continued to stare.

"Umm... Is she all right?" One of the other recruits was curious to what I was doing when I started to work in silence.

"Oh... It's that bad..."

"What's bad?"

"My sis here just went into her silent mode... That either means she's pissed off that or concentrating really hard... Seeing she's doing it with a Striker, I say it's all of the above."

'_Like hell I'm pissed! This thing is a flying death trap! Wrong parts, not even oiled correctly, worn parts are mixed with brand new ones, the magical pump settings makes this a ticking fire ball... The list goes on! If these were in the same conditions to her other Striker-... HOW THE FUCK DID THIS EVEN FLY!?'_ Parts after parts were pulled from the Striker to the point where a small pile of items were laying. _'It's all right sweetie, everything's going to be all right. I'm going to put you back together and make sure you're as new as you can be!~' _That went on for another three hours of hard work on both Strikers but at least it was done. Sitting back, I sighed when my sister came in.

"Yo! Sis! Are you done?" She asked, and I set the tools back, nodding my head. "Cool! Hey, we're about to our showers today and I wanted to know if you want to join us!"

"Sure, why not." Off to the changing room we went and it was rather similar to the one back at the old 501st base with racks and baskets to place our clothes in. Finding an empty one, I gently undid my scarf and folded it up neatly before beginning unbuttoning the black top I had.

"Hey, Ember, I never seen you with those clothes before... Where did you uniform go?"

"Huh? This? Oh yeah... I got used to this I forgot about my uniform... Well, the clothes I had were starting to get worn out with the intense training Xala was putting me through and I had to get more clothes. With what ever money I had left, I bought some clothes and cloth to patch up what ever might rip."

"And the scarf?" I undid my bra and placed it on top of my black clothing.

"Would you be surprised if I said Xala made it?"

"A Neuroi made it?"

"It's like a parting gift I guess. She said with the current situation, it's dangerous for them to make any drastic moves since they revealed themselves that day. Though I'm not sure what type of fabric it's made out of... Soft as silk but that thing is resilient. It never loses it's bright red shine, it doesn't warm me up when it's swelter and it warms depending on the temperature, never stains, and is strong as steel."

"How do you know the later one?"

"One of the bullets just sort of bounced off of it earlier today. No tares or rips were found in it at all."

"Huh..."

"That and she also said, 'use it wisely when the time comes.' I don't know what she meant by that but... Bah, I'm over thinking things..."

"Though another thing I've noticed that really stands out from regular girls," she poked at my stomach. "Most girls your age aren't exactly as muscular as you are!"

"It was necessary for the training I was doing..." I mumbled. "Besides, it makes my figure looks sharper than ever."

"Not the only thing that changed..." She stared at my chest and I face palmed lightly.

"Well, they stopped growing at least." She groped her own chest lightly and sighed after poking my own.

"Not as large as Shirley's... But you're up there." She giggled and I sighed at Shirley's name.

'_I wonder how she's doing...'_ I thought before we went into the showers. Some girls gave a surprised gasp seeing me.

"M-Major! I-Is it all right if you bath with the lower ranked Witches?" One girl asked.

"What's your name?"

"C-Cassandra!"

"Well, Cassandra, ranks don't matter when we're bathing so ease up all right?"

"R-Right!" I started to wash up starting with my body and went on to work with my long hair when another girl spoke up.

"Uummm... Ember?"

"Hm?"

"I-I don't mean to pry but... Why do you keep your hair parted over your eye?" I pondered if I should show them or not but they would find out anyway if I was going to be stationed here for a while. Closing my eyes I pulled my hair off to the side.

"Please, try not to scream or anything..." Opening my eyes, they gasped lightly and I let my hair flop back into position. After that, I went on to visit my mother who welcomed me back with teary eyes and I was glad she was doing all right. About a week passed and in that time press came through taking pictures and asking questions. For some, they weren't satisfied about my answer but it was for the safety for the Neuroi Rebels. Though with rules, I had to go back into my uniform but I was content that I was able to keep the scarf on. My mother questioned me why I was wearing it since it was consistently 70-80°F and I explained how it doesn't effect my temperature. She didn't question it but I do sometimes question why it does that... How ever, today, I got a message for Blaze and I to be driven to this base more inland. I'm not 100% sure what was going on, but FIGMO*. The drive was long, about three hours from through the city and onto the highway. My internal compass told me that we were heading up north and our surrounding foliage was getting greener and greener when we came to this base deep in the forest. Being shown in, I noted the small clearing for a runway but what struck me most are the buildings. Concrete bunkers were at one area of a wide open field and all the buildings were stark white. There were multiple different buildings as well with two large white hangers and a main building that must have been the main office building. Coming over to a hanger, the car doors were opened and out I stepped to find a general flanked by some scientists. I was getting cold feet as the possibility of them doing tests on me came to mind but I shook it off when I saw a girl with white hair and silver eyes looking at me. Her face held little emotions and her half lidded eyes didn't help either. But, I could see some curiosity in them. Saluting, the General set me at ease and began to talk.

"I'm happy you two could make it." He gave off a smile that radiated an easy feeling with him. He seemed more laid back compared to the other Top Brass I've met before. "If you're wondering why you're here, I've come to ask for your assistance Major."

"My assistance? With what exactly?"

"You will be protecting her," he spoke, stepping aside giving me complete view of the mystery girl. "This is Captain Seiker, a Ground Witch you see. You two will be going to Africa to assist and provide cover for her in the fight against the Neuroi."

"A-Africa, sir?"

"Exactly. Now, you might be thinking, 'Why are they choosing me to fly escort for this Witch specifically? Because we're not an ordinary unit. Noel, you can go get prepared for the demonstration." She nodded and left without a word as the general took me off to one of the bunkers. "My boys have been working on a way to help give our Ground Witches the advantage against the Neuroi and due to early designs, the weaponry was limited to some degree." Getting inside the bunker, the steel door was closed and locked. Out in front of me was a rather bumpy landscape with multiple black targets on the ground and in the air as well. "Though they might be working great against the Neuroi, I think it will be time for an upgrade. This demonstration will show you our new Ground Striker, the M18 Hellcat."

"I'm guessing the black targets represent Neuroi forces?"

"Correct," he said while picking up a microphone. "All right Captain, you may commence the simulations." I heard a deafening explosion of a large cannon going off to the point where Blaze had to cover her ears when a large object came roll into view at an extreme speed for it's size. It stood just over seven feet tall with a large black cannon mounted on the on the right shoulder a drum magazine hanging in the back. In the center was Noel strapped into this metal skeletal system to make the machine work. Her arms were inside the metal casing up to her fore arm and her legs also were cut off by about the thigh. On her back was this large looking object that connected her arms and legs together but there was a belt sheath running from it to what looked like a M2 HMG on her right arm and a large spike like object on her left arm. She has puma familiar features and what surprised me most was this translucent blue screen over her eyes. I watched in aw as she expertly ran around the battlefield destroying the targets.

"Wow... So much fire power..."

"That, indeed. She's got 400 rounds for her machine gun and you all ready know what destructive power the Ma Dues has. On her shoulder is something of genius ingenuity by my team and some Karlslandian data, is an auto loading 90mm Anti-Neuroi Cannon. It can easily take down medium Turtle Neuroi types and two shots for a large one. The secret to not only having the whole machine work on magical energy, but also the rounds she uses. The APCHEBC not only can penetrate the Neuroi armor easily, but also detonate inside it for maximum damage and the cannon can hold five rounds be magazine. With two extra magazines she can load up, she's a one Witch army."

"Uuummm... APC what?"

"I'm sorry, I'm used to talking with the engineers and scientists that we use the acronyms for things. It's Armor Piercing Capped High-Explosive Ballistic Cap." I raised an eye brow to him. "The Ballistic cap makes it more accurate and fly faster through the air. It's more effective in killing the turtles than Armor Piercing Composite Rigid, or APCR, but not the same penetrating effect. On her other arm though is a 50mm Bunker Buster spike. If the Neuroi gets to close for comfort, she can hit it with the spike and it should penetrate deep enough to hit the core.."

"What's the blue thing over her eyes?" my sister asked.

"That, is Noel special ability. It's a special type of Ballistic Calculator since it can show where she's pointing her weapons, magnify her vision up to 650 meters, but also giver her ballistic calculations for where her shell will hit. It also high lights the Neuroi that are within 400 meters of her. Outside of that, she has to identify them the old fashion way." She stood in the center of the test grounds with all the targets destroyed and her weapon barrels smoking.

"_Test complete. Returning to hanger A-1."_ I heard her soft voice say through the intercom. It was the first time I actually heard her speak and I noted it was almost like a whisper; monotoned and quiet.

"So, Major, what do you think?" he asked and I turned towards him with a smirk.

"I think she will give the Neuroi hell in Africa. When will we be shipped off?"

"We need to repaint it from Olive Green to desert camouflage so about a week max. This will also conclude what I wanted to show you Major. You can go talk with the Captain if you want but don't feel to bad if she doesn't talk to you... She doesn't really talk with anyone really... She's a good girl so take care of her." He left with the others and I branched off to fine her in... Hanger A-1 if I remember correctly and that I did. She was going to leave when I ran up to her. She gave me a blank expression, but in her eyes, I could see some curiosity.

"Well, I guess I'm your flight detail. My names Ember Vermillion, and this is my sister, Blazette Vermillion."

"Pleased to met you and you can just call me Blaze." Blaze said.

"It's nice to meet you two..." Noel spoke in a hushed tone again. She reminds me of Sanya a bit when I had first met her. Though there's something different for Noel's quietness. I could feel it.

"So, have you been to Africa before?" She shook her head.

"I've only been to Europe..."

"Europe?"

"Yes. I was part of a Joint Tank Battalion but I was... Transferred out to here..." Her eyes lost some shine to them for a second but she had recomposed herself quickly. To anyone else, no one would have noticed but there was something she's hiding. She said she had to do something and left. With noting else to do, we were driven back, stoping only for some food. Burgers were served before we hit the road again. Soon, we arrived back to base we began to wait around for the week to come by. New clothes came in for both Blaze and I for our stay in Africa. We packed those away and I decided it was time to break the news to my mom. She took it much more easily than last time.

"You two be careful out there! I don't want to be traumatized again! Three times is enough for me thank you very much," she said and some memories of when I was shipped off to Britannia to fight the Neuroi. One night though, I found myself sitting out on the porch at night whittling away at this large stick I found near our house. In the training I did with Xala and the other Neuroi, it came to my attention that they could wield swords. It was a shock to me when it came to close quarters combat when an orange Neuroi starts charging you, a sword in hand. Even with some shields erected, Misaka still cut though two of the five shield I had. They told me I had to have some sword like weapon, but a katana didn't really suit my style. In the end, I settled on two combat style knives. Not only can I keep up my own against Ene, who is the second best sword, but they've got regular use as well. So here I am, sitting on the porch whittling away at the stick with my black and red Neuroi blade, cutting out what kind of looks like a Neuroi Witch. In my free time, I always whittled away at a stick. It was like a meditation for me; it gave me time to think.

'_So we're going to Africa to fight the Neuroi...'_ I thought as I placed the knife down admiring my work when I noticed the Neuroi presence. Looking up and to the right, I saw a faint blue, purple, and red glow of some familiar outlines. Looking around, I got up from my seat and jumped over the rail into the darkness.

"What are you three doing here?" I questioned the three Neuroi as we stood behind the tree. "You know where's a military base extremely close by right?"

"Eva's ability can get us in and out no problem and we're low enough to avoid radar." Ene explained. "But we're here to give you some information form Xala."

"Why couldn't she come and tell me this then?"

"Because herself, Xera, and Misaka are observing the Neuroi in Africa as well. I'm here to tell you what you will be against." I crossed my arms but only nodded. She went on to explain what the Neuroi forces were most likely going from what types of flying Neuroi I was going to fight and then the fabled Turtle Neuroi.

"So anything else I should not about the Turtles?"

"Don't take them lightly. They might be on the ground but since they don't need to fly means that their armor is much tougher. Weak points will be the joins around the legs and the top of the Neuroi. Not that you will be having any trouble with your gun. Oh, and all of your weapons and ammo has also been returned to your base."

"Thank you Ene. Though one other thing... Will you Neuroi fight along side me in the future?" She staid silent for a second before speaking again.

"Xala's considering it, but not now. Good bye for now Ember." They teleported away and I went back inside to get some shut eye. The next day, trucks came onto base and a modified touched down on the base as well. Weapons were loaded up, and thanks to Xala and others, my weapons and other equipment appeared on base and no one questioned it. My Striker was aboard and I heard about our flight plane. My ears perked up when I heard we were landing in London to refuel. Inside, I made sure everything was secured and strapped down hard before I called to see if Lynne was around. Sadly she wasn't available at the moment so I left a message saying that Blaze and I were stopping in London. With everything secured, we strapped in on off towards Africa we went.

'_I wonder where you are Shirley... Last you were heard near Africa... Maybe I can see you again.'_

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_***FUBAR BUNDY: Fuck Up Beyond Any Reason/Repair But Unfortunately Not Dead Yet.**_

_***FIGMO: Fuck It Got My Orders**_

**So the next arc of this story will be continued through this one. However, season 2 will be made a separate story for conveniences heehee. As for Noel's Ground Striker... The easiest way to envision and see how it looks like is to think of an IS unit from Infinite Stratos but much more simple and blocky-ish**

* * *

**As for Noel's Profile:**

**Name: Noel Sekier**

**Cup Size: A**

**Age 15**

**Rank: Captain**

**Nation: Liberion**

**Familiar: Puma**

**Hair Color: White**

**Eye Color: Silver**

**Squad Affiliation: 4th Mechanized Infantry Experimental Unit**

**Strike Unit: M18 Hellcat**

**Weapons: 5 shot 90mm Auto-Loading cannon, M2 HMG, Pneumatic 50mm Spike Bunker buster.**

**Please, leave a review below if you want. I don't bite... Much... I'd like to hear what everyone that hasn't reviewed thinks of how the story is going.**


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